Apple is in active talks with news publishers to license their content for the company’s upcoming AI-powered Siri assistant, the Wall Street Journal reported Wednesday. The tech giant has reached out to publishers in recent months about using their material to give Siri access to current news and information.
The negotiations mark a significant departure from standard industry practice. Apple has proposed a variable compensation model that would pay publishers each time their content is used, rather than through the fixed licensing fees that typically accompany broad content access agreements. The company has considered a nine-figure budget for the payments, according to the Journal’s reporting.
The approach echoes the licensing deals Apple struck with publishers for Apple News, but the per-use payment structure is new territory. Under the proposed model, publishers would be compensated based on how frequently Siri draws on their articles, creating a direct link between content value and revenue rather than the flat-fee arrangements that have dominated media licensing for decades.
Siri AI is expected to roll out later this year as part of Apple’s broader push into generative AI. The assistant has been rebuilt on a new architecture that Apple previewed at WWDC 2026, where the company announced a standalone Siri app and a three-tier privacy stack for AI features. Mark Gurman of Bloomberg has reported that some advanced Siri capabilities, including conversational replies and image generation, could eventually require a separate subscription.
The publisher talks come at a delicate moment for the media industry. Several major news organizations have sued AI companies, including OpenAI and Anthropic, over the use of their copyrighted content to train language models. Google has also faced scrutiny over how its AI overviews feature uses publisher content. Apple’s willingness to pay could set a precedent that other AI companies may be pressured to follow.
For publishers, the negotiations represent a potential new revenue stream at a time when traditional advertising and subscription income remain under pressure. Apple has proposed that the compensation would be separate from any existing deals with Apple News, potentially creating an additional layer of monetization for content that powers the Siri assistant’s ability to answer news-related queries.
Apple did not immediately respond to requests for comment. The company’s approach to licensing could influence how other tech giants structure their own relationships with news organizations as AI assistants become a primary way users consume information.
Sources: Wall Street Journal, TechCrunch
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