Partnering with Axios expands OpenAI’s work with the news industry

Over the past year, we set out to support a healthy news ecosystem by working with news organizations, listening to their feedback, and building solutions together. Our goal⁠(opens in a new window) is to be a thoughtful partner—helping journalists with time-consuming tasks, improving ChatGPT’s understanding of sources of current news events, and offering new ways for publishers to reach readers through ChatGPT. We’re a young company putting significant investment into this work, which advances our mission by finding novel ways for news and tech to work together and benefit each other as well as our users.

Today, we are announcing a new content partnership with Axios, and funding to help expand its local news coverage by building newsrooms enabled by our technology in four new cities—Pittsburgh, Pa.; Kansas City, Mo.; Boulder, Colo.; and Huntsville, Ala.

We’ve now partnered with nearly 20 media organizations*, bringing our technology to more than 160 news outlets and hundreds of content brands in more than 20 languages across topics and continents. 

The partnerships with publishers like News Corp, The Atlantic, Vox Media, Prisa Media, Condé Nast, Hearst, and Dotdash Meredith enable ChatGPT search⁠ to now feature select summaries and excerpts from trusted media outlets with clear citations and direct links to original sources. This helps to strengthen both the news ecosystem and our product, and makes it easier for our over 300 million weekly active users across over 150 countries⁠(opens in a new window) to discover and engage with original news content, including from any publication that chooses to participate in our search ecosystem.

“Technology is one of the best tools we have to reach new readers and deepen our relationship with existing ones. By working with OpenAI, we’re figuring out ways to make discovering and sharing our journalism more intuitive. We want to use the tools of the future to help people discover our best reporting on the moment we’re in,” said Nicholas Thompson, CEO of The Atlantic. 

“Provenance and principle are culture cornerstones, which is why the partnership with Sam Altman and his trusty team has been profoundly important, not only for our thousands of journalists around the world, but for insight, for integrity and for actual intelligence. We live in an age permeated, poisoned by the faux and the fallacious, so OpenAI’s clear commitment to objective journalism, to genuinely trustworthy sources is crucial in ensuring that succeeding generations will have an understanding founded in fact,” said Robert Thomson, CEO of News Corp. 

In the next phase of our work⁠, including our latest partnership with Axios, we’re focusing on helping publishers more effectively integrate our tools to benefit their missions and their businesses. 

Publishers are sparking new innovation in the AI era, and they are only getting started. 

• The Associated Press⁠(opens in a new window) is leveraging OpenAI technology to streamline news production and increase capabilities, with AP journalists playing a key role throughout the process. For example, AP’s AI-driven tools have increased Spanish language translations by 40% and doubled Portuguese translations. The technology also generates search-optimized headlines and suggests related articles to engage audiences more effectively. Additionally, AP is using AI tools to save hundreds of hours on data mining, as well as to provide tips from hundreds of federal agencies to local newsrooms.
• The Atlantic⁠ is experimenting with OpenAI technology for Atlantic Labs⁠(opens in a new window), a research and development site—independent from its journalism—where its product team is incubating new ideas in a push to understand how the publisher can benefit from emerging tech. Two current experiments on the site that use OpenAI tech are Atlantic Companion⁠(opens in a new window), a chatbot with access to The Atlantic’s 167-year archive; and Atlantic Explorer⁠(opens in a new window), a guided journey through thematic articles.
• Axel Springer⁠ developed ‘Hey_⁠(opens in a new window),’ a user-friendly generative AI news assistant⁠(opens in a new window) that makes Axel Springer’s journalism more interactive and personalized. Leveraging OpenAI technology, the tool allows readers to converse with the assistant casually—as simply as saying, “Hey_, what’s up?” or “Hey_, how can I eat healthily?”—on a wide range of topics to access personalized content. Since its launch in September 2023, ‘Hey_’ has answered more than 100 million questions on Europe’s largest news brand BILD, and is also integrated into WELT’s consumer experience. In October 2024, Business Insider introduced an AI-powered search⁠(opens in a new window) feature powered by BI’s journalism and OpenAI technology to provide readers with its signature 3-bullet style search results in addition to contextual background information fueled by BI’s library of content. 
• Dotdash Meredith⁠(opens in a new window)’s D/Cipher is a first-of-its-kind tool targeting ads based on what people are interested in—not using cookies or personal data. D/Cipher is now powered by OpenAI and it helps quickly analyze millions of connections across DDM content for smarter ad targeting. It’s now even better at understanding intent and helping target ads more accurately across the web.  
• Financial Times⁠ uses ChatGPT Enterprise across nearly two-thirds of their global workforce, with 1,400 people using it every week. They are experimenting with AI to automate time-consuming, manual tasks and improve their audience’s experience, such as by using a custom GPT model to help identify proposed advertisements that don’t meet UK advertising industry standards. The proof of concept is yielding promising results, the FT said, and—if implemented—could give our legal team a helpful first flag when an ad may not meet ASA standards.
• Hearst⁠ is unlocking new ways to engage and inspire audiences with OpenAI’s technology. DevHub⁠(opens in a new window), a team of Hearst Newspapers’ editorial engineers, is personalizing local dining with smart recommendation engines for the San Antonio Express-News and the San Francisco Chronicle. Good Housekeeping made holiday shopping effortless with an AI-powered gift guide⁠(opens in a new window) that pairs trusted advice with smart suggestions. And behind the scenes, both Hearst Newspapers and Television are transforming sales processes with custom GPTs to work faster and smarter.
• Le Monde⁠ leverages OpenAI technologies to streamline its workflows, such as improving the efficiency of processing news dispatches and enriching articles with highly relevant content. By automating these tasks, the newsroom can dedicate more time to creating innovative formats and exploring new ways for audiences to consume news—such as podcasts, videos, newsletters, and Q&A segments—a key strategic priority of Le Monde to engage new audiences beyond its core readership.
• Prisa Media⁠ equipped El País, one of Spain’s most influential newspapers and the most widely circulated Spanish-language newspaper in the world, with an AI assistant. This assistant, currently rolled out to a selected customer base and available at scale by March, provides users with real time access to curated information from their own content. 
• TIME⁠ launched a dynamic AI Toolbar⁠(opens in a new window), enhancing reader engagement with its iconic Person of the Year⁠(opens in a new window) content. The toolbar offers advanced capabilities such as an interactive chat box that responds to a user’s question prompt, and seamless language translation powered by OpenAI.
• Vox Media⁠ leverages OpenAI technology for its internal and external tools. Gift Scout⁠(opens in a new window)—a tool from The Strategist—allows users to enter highly specific queries and receive tailored gift recommendations from their catalog of recommended products. Internally, Vox Media employees use an AI-powered bot to gain query-based insights, such as page view and customer loyalty trends. Additionally, the sales team utilizes Sponsor Scout, an internal tool that connects editorial initiatives with relevant advertisers, helping align upcoming content with brand and audience opportunities.

Starting in 2023, we doubled down on efforts to ensure news organizations of all sizes and resources can leverage AI effectively. Our partnerships with the American Journalism Project⁠, the Lenfest Institute for Journalism⁠(opens in a new window) and the World Association of News Publishers (WAN-IFRA)⁠(opens in a new window), help support both local and global newsrooms through grant programs, API credits, AI education, and AI integration support.

OpenAI funded the launch of the American Journalism Project’s Product & AI Studio⁠(opens in a new window) to support experimentation with AI across their portfolio of 50 local news organizations in 35 states. The Studio has provided direct funding to local news outlets—including Open Campus, Spotlight PA, and Centro de Periodismo Investigativo—as they explore and utilize AI to transcribe and analyze civic meeting notes, translate articles while preserving cultural nuances, equip readers with fast and accurate information to election information, and streamline workflows in resource-constrained newsrooms.

“Local journalism must find ways to thrive in the digital age. Emerging technologies like generative AI bring both opportunities and risks to the field. The American Journalism Project’s Product & AI Studio is focused on helping the outstanding news outlets in our portfolio explore how AI might address tough problems, such as boosting revenue and analyzing civic data, while emphasizing scalable knowledge sharing. Our goal is to make sure these efforts strengthen trusted local news, an essential part of creating informed and connected communities,” said Sarabeth Berman, CEO of American Journalism Project.

Through OpenAI-sponsored fellowships at member organizations like the Minneapolis Star Tribune, Philadelphia Inquirer, Chicago Public Media, Long Island Newsday, and The Seattle Times, news organizations gain access to OpenAI expertise and API credits to experiment with innovative applications of AI. These fellows are driving projects that reimagine newsroom operations and audience engagement. 

“Just over a year ago, OpenAI and the Lenfest Institute for Journalism challenged ourselves to create a new development platform for major metropolitan news organizations to work together to leverage the opportunity for AI to improve the business of local news,” said Jim Friedlich, CEO of The Lenfest Institute. “This program—including embedded engineering support in key cities, and the sharing of insights, code, and learning industrywide—is a key step in leveraging emerging AI technologies to strengthen trusted local news and ensure that its critical role in serving communities endures.”

In partnership with WAN-IFRA, OpenAI is set to support 128 newsrooms across Europe, Asia Pacific, Latin America, and South Asia. The current cohort includes over 30 newsrooms such as Norway’s Adresseavisen—one of the country’s oldest newspapers, established in 1767—and Cambodia’s Koh Santepheap Media Group, publisher of a daily Khmer-language newspaper. The program provides hands-on education about AI implementation and culminates in participants creating AI prototypes tailored to their needs. Early cohorts in Europe and APAC are already exploring how AI can enhance newsroom productivity and storytelling.

“The Newsroom AI Catalyst is a fantastic opportunity for experimentation and testing and a chance to discover and benchmark frameworks and practices through sharing insights with other participants that can radically change how AI is integrated into newsrooms,” said Vincent Peyrègne, CEO of WAN-IFRA. 

We are excited to continue working closely with publishers, editors, journalists, and the news industry to explore how media organizations can best leverage AI to inform and engage with their audiences while we deliver their trusted, timely journalism to ChatGPT users.