Apple Negotiates Variable-Payment News Deals for Siri AI

Apple Inc. is negotiating multiyear deals with publishers to integrate live news and current information into an overhauled version of its Siri voice assistant. The upgrade, expected later this year, would utilize a variable compensation structure where publishers receive payment only when their content is used to generate a response.

This pay-as-used model represents a departure from the industry standard of guaranteed flat fees for broad content access. Reports indicate the company has discussed a potential nine-figure budget for these payments. While Apple declined to comment on the ongoing talks, the strategy aligns with its previous practice of paying for AI training rights and its management of the Apple News+ subscription service since 2019.