NYT, Economist among publishers joining coalition to curb unpaid AI use

Oct 12 (Reuters) — The New York Times, Agence France-Presse and The Economist on Monday joined more than 40 publishers in a coalition aimed at preventing AI firms from using or profiting from their content without permission. The Standards for Publisher Usage Rights (SPUR) coalition, launched in February, now has more than 80 members across over 20 countries. New members include The Atlantic and Brazil's National Association of Newspapers, joining founding members such as the Financial Times, BBC and Associated Press. Publishers are stepping up legal efforts to prevent AI companies from using their content without permission to train large language models. Earlier this month, USA Today and several newspapers it owns sued OpenAI, alleging copyright infringement. OpenAI and its backer, Microsoft, also face similar copyright claims from prominent authors and news organizations, including the New York Times. SPUR, which is funded entirely by its members, is developing industry-wide standards and technical systems to help publishers track and control how AI companies use their content and facilitate licensing agreements, according to its website. "Intellectual property protection and te