The New York Times, Agence France-Presse (AFP), and The Economist have joined a coalition of publishers seeking to prevent AI companies from using or profiting from their content without permission. The move comes as media organizations step up efforts to protect their intellectual property amid the rapid expansion of AI tools.
The publishers joined more than 40 organizations in the Standards for Publisher Usage Rights (SPUR) coalition on Monday. Launched in February, SPUR now has more than 80 members across over 20 countries.
Publishers Push for Greater Control Over AI Use
New members, including The Atlantic and Brazil’s National Association of Newspapers, have joined founding members such as the Financial Times, the BBC, and the Associated Press.
The coalition is developing industry-wide standards and technical systems to help publishers track and control how AI companies use their content and facilitate licensing agreements. SPUR is funded entirely by its members.
“Intellectual property protection and technological advancement can and must co-exist,” Rebecca Grossman-Cohen, The New York Times’ head of strategic partnerships and chief of staff, said in a statement.
Publishers have increasingly turned to legal methods to challenge the unauthorized use of their work to train large language models. Earlier this month, USA Today and several newspapers it owns sued OpenAI, alleging copyright infringement.
OpenAI and its backer, Microsoft, also face similar copyright claims from prominent authors and news organizations, including The New York Times.
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AI Search Results Add to Publishers’ Concerns
Media companies are also seeing declining referral traffic as search engines introduce AI-generated answers that let users access information without clicking through to publishers’ websites.
Google organic-search referrals to more than 2,500 websites fell 33% globally between November 2024 and November 2025, according to a Reuters Institute report citing data from Chartbeat.
The decline has heightened concerns about how publishers can sustain their businesses as AI platforms increasingly deliver information directly to users.
SPUR Develops Content Tracking Standards
SPUR recently introduced its Content Telemetry Standard to standardize how AI agents record and report their use of media content.
The initiative aims to improve transparency around the use of publishers’ work and support efforts to ensure creators are compensated for their content as artificial intelligence companies expand their operations.