Apple Offers Nine-Figure Payments To Publishers In Multiyear Deal Push For Real-Time AI Siri News

Apple is seeking multiyear licensing agreements with news publishers to give its upgraded Siri access to current news and information, as the company prepares to introduce a more capable AI-powered assistant later this year.

The discussions could involve a pool of payments worth up to nine figures, with Apple proposing a model that pays publishers when their content is actually used by Siri rather than relying on the fixed fees common in many existing AI licensing agreements.

Apple Wants Siri To Access Current News

Apple has approached several media organisations in recent months about providing timely content for the new Siri, according to The Wall Street Journal.

The talks come ahead of the AI-powered Siri’s planned launch with iOS 27, iPadOS 27 and macOS 27 this autumn.

The upgraded assistant is expected to be a major change from the current version of Siri, with Apple seeking to make it more useful for tasks that require access to fresh information.

Under the proposed arrangements, publishers would receive payments when their content is used by Siri.

Apple has discussed a nine-figure budget for these payments, according to people familiar with the discussions cited by the Journal.

How Would Apple’s Publisher Payment Model Work?

The proposed arrangement differs from the more traditional AI licensing model, where technology companies generally agree to fixed payments in exchange for broad access to publishers’ content.

Instead, Apple’s plan would link compensation to actual use of publisher material by its AI assistant.

The approach would give Apple access to a wider pool of current information while creating a payment system based on how often participating publishers’ content is used.

Apple has already negotiated agreements giving it rights to use publisher content for AI model training, the Journal reported.

The company also has longstanding relationships with publishers through Apple News+, its subscription service launched in 2019, although some major publishers have since ended their partnerships over disagreements about the terms.

Why Does Siri Need Licensed News Content?

The push for fresh news content comes as Apple prepares to give Siri a much broader role across its devices.

An AI assistant that can answer questions about current events needs access to information that is both recent and reliable, particularly when users ask about breaking news, developing stories or other fast-moving events.

Apple has faced problems in this area before.

In late 2024, the company introduced AI-generated notification summaries that sometimes produced inaccurate news headlines.

The feature drew criticism after false or misleading summaries were shown to users, prompting Apple to disable news summaries while it worked on improvements.

The experience has increased the importance of accuracy as Apple develops the next generation of Siri.

Publishers Face More Choices Over AI Content

Apple’s talks come as news organisations weigh whether to license their work to AI companies or challenge the use of their content through legal action.

The New York Times is suing OpenAI and Microsoft over alleged unauthorised use of its work, while News Corp and Axel Springer have reached licensing agreements with OpenAI.

Reddit has taken both routes.

The platform agreed to a reported $60 million-a-year content licensing deal with Google in 2024 while also pursuing legal action against Anthropic and Perplexity over alleged unauthorised scraping of its data.

For Apple, securing direct access to publisher content could give Siri a more dependable source of current information as it moves towards its planned autumn launch.

Apple shares slipped 0.2% in after-hours trading on Wednesday following the report.