Apple is in advanced talks with major media groups to secure news content licensing, aiming to improve Siri’s responses while addressing AI-generated misinformation, signalling a shift towards more integrated news AI solutions.
Apple has opened fresh talks with major media groups over access to current news content for Siri, in a move that could give its voice assistant more accurate, timely answers while reducing the risk of fabricated summaries. According to The Wall Street Journal, the company is seeking multi-year licensing agreements and is prepared to pay on a per-use basis, a structure that differs from the more common practice of training fees or broad content licences used elsewhere in artificial intelligence.
The reporting suggests Apple is willing to commit a nine-figure budget to the effort, underscoring how central high-quality news data has become to consumer AI systems. The strategy also reflects a wider shift in the media business. Dow Jones, for example, has spent the past year negotiating AI usage agreements with thousands of publishers as news organisations try to set clearer terms for how their work is used by automated systems.
Apple has made similar overtures before. In late 2023, according to MacRumors, it approached publishers including Condé Nast, NBC News and IAC about long-term deals to train generative AI systems on news archives, with some proposals reportedly valued at more than $50 million each. But publishers were said to be wary of vague language around how the content would be used, and some have since pulled back from earlier Apple News Plus arrangements over revenue-sharing concerns.
The renewed push comes after Apple was forced to deal with the fallout from its notification summarisation tool, which generated misleading and at times false headlines. That episode made clear that poorly grounded AI output can create reputational risk for a company that has built its brand on trust and privacy. Apple has separately said Siri data is not sold for advertising purposes, and recent reports indicate the company is also deepening its AI ties with Google by using Gemini models in the next version of Siri. The updated assistant is expected to arrive alongside iOS 27 and macOS 27 this autumn.
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