Journalism and AI: Who owns the news?

A 2026 survey by the Reuters Institute found that 10% of people worldwide use AI chatbots for news weekly, with significantly higher usage among younger audiences. This shift threatens the traditional relationship between journalism producers and distributors, as media organizations see their work being copied and summarized by AI systems without proper compensation.

"In the past, search engines like Google indexed our websites and directed users to their articles, generating traffic in return," said Julia Becker, publisher of Funke Media Group. "But now that exchange has broken down."

"AI companies draw on our quality reporting to generate answers, yet the reporting itself often remains largely invisible by the end of this process," added DW Director General Barbara Massing, highlighting the industry's growing concern.

Growing industry pressure

Media houses are now pressing "Big Tech" companies to ask permission before using their work and to pay for it. In October, German broadcasters ARD and RTL, along with BDZV and VAUNET, called for stronger copyright protections for media companies.

In the US, The New York Times has sued internet company Brave Software for allegedly using its content without permission and bypassing its paywall. Meanwhile, EU legal institutions including the European Court of Justice are examining whether AI-generated answers can infringe copyright.

In February, a coalition including The Guardian, BBC, and Financial Times called for rules giving publishers more control over how AI systems copy and reproduce their content.

Payment solutions proposed

Professor Martin Senftleben distinguishes between how AI companies use journalistic material: training models and generating responses. He suggests European copyright law may already offer solutions for payment when journalism is used in real-time answers.

"What are we waiting for? Germany is a large member state. This should be introduced in Germany," he proposed, suggesting a legally required payment system where each AI response drawing on journalism triggers a payment, collected and distributed like music royalties.

"AI systems shouldn't just use quality journalism. They should also pay for it," Massing emphasized.

Tech industry response

Google's Lutz Mache stated the company is willing to negotiate agreements with German media and is testing an "AI Contribution" pilot program that rewards content playing a significant role in answers from products like Gemini. Google claims its ancillary copyright agreements cover more than 800 German publications with payments already being made.

Microsoft, Anthropic, and OpenAI have expressed support for clearer signals allowing website owners to state whether their content may be used to train AI models. However, not everyone believes more regulation is the answer.

Jörg Heidrich warned against new rules without considering effects on the wider tech sector, arguing Europe has already fallen behind in the global AI race and that restrictions could hurt smaller players including startups and research institutions that depend on data access to build AI systems.