Google Eyes Publisher Deals to Train AI, Following OpenAI and Perplexity’s Lead

After largely sitting out the AI licensing land grab, Google is now approaching news publishers with deals to train its models—signaling a shift in strategy as rivals like OpenAI and Perplexity race ahead with content partnerships.

The tech giant is recruiting 20 national news outlets as part of a licensing “pilot project,” according to Bloomberg. 

“We’ve said that we’re exploring and experimenting with new types of partnerships and product experiences, but we aren’t sharing details about specific plans or conversations at this time,” a Google spokesperson told ADWEEK in a statement.

The search giant is partnering with news outlets to explore the role of AI through initiatives like its Pinpoint research tool, the JournalismAI Innovation Challenge, and newsroom training for its Gemini App, NotebookLM, and SynthID tools.

“As we continue to explore how AI can enable new experiences and capabilities for people around the globe, we’re identifying specific types of data and content delivery methods that can help enhance our models and services,” Google said in its blog post.

Until now, the tech giant has only struck agreements with the Associated Press and Reddit. Meanwhile, AI upstarts like OpenAI and Perplexity have moved quickly to lock in licensing deals with major publishers, offering money, traffic, or visibility in exchange for access to journalism that can train or power their models.

OpenAI has partnered with media organizations including Condé Nast, Dotdash Meredith, and The Atlantic. Meanwhile, Perplexity, through its Publisher Partnership program, has struck deals with The Los Angeles Times and The Independent, among others. 

Google’s AI Overviews—automated summaries that often appear above traditional search links—frequently pull from publisher content. Some media companies worry the feature could slash their organic search traffic by as much as 60%, arguing that users may get the information they need directly from the summary without clicking through to the source.

According to Similarweb data, The Wall Street Journal’s share of overall search traffic fell to 24% from 29% over the past three years. The New York Times saw its share of traffic from organic search decline to 36.5% in April 2025, down from nearly 44% three years earlier.

At the same time, Google’s grip on the global search market is loosening: Its share has dropped below 90% in six of the past seven months, as users explore alternatives like ChatGPT. That shift may be adding pressure on the company to repair its relationship with publishers, whose content underpins not just Google’s traditional search, but its AI future.