Danish Media vs. AI: A Legal Showdown
Background
Major Danish newspapers and TV stations are gearing up for a legal battle against AI giants like OpenAI, French newspaper Le Monde, and Spanish group Prisa. This conflict arises from concerns that AI technologies are marginalizing publishers‘ websites.
Concerns from Danish Media
After several meetings with OpenAI, both online and in-person, Danish media representatives felt that their content’s value might diminish significantly in the coming years. As Rønde puts it:
“Maybe then it [will be] too late, and the value of the press publishers’ content will be—in one or two or three years—too low.”
She emphasizes the urgency of forming partnership agreements soon, or else they will have to enforce their rights legally.
Formation of DPCMO
The Danish Press Content Management Organization (DPCMO) was established in 2021 to help Danish media negotiate with Big Tech. Rønde explains:
“We needed to stand united, otherwise we feared that Denmark would be too small a country to be prioritized in the discussion with Big Tech.”
Preliminary Agreements
Last year, DPCMO secured preliminary license agreements with Microsoft’s Bing and Google to feature Danish publishers’ content in their search engines. Although these agreements stipulated that publishers should be compensated, the exact amounts were not determined.
The Path Forward
The Danish media’s next steps will be crucial in determining how they can protect their content’s value and ensure fair compensation from AI and tech giants.
1 Comment
I bet this will stir a beehive of legal and ethical debates!