Mediahuis Group chief executive Gert Ysebaert
Mediahuis, which publishes the Irish Independent, has joined an industry group looking to shape emerging rules, standards and infrastructure that will enable publishers and AI platforms to do business on fair, transparent terms.
The Standards for Publisher Usage Rights (SPUR) is a member funded, non-profit, coalition aiming to ensure owners of intelectual property (IP), including news publishers, can control and monitor the use of their content by generative AI applications.
As well as Mediahuis the founding members are the UK based BBC, Financial Times, Guardian Media Group, Sky News and Telegraph Media Group.
Antwerp headquartered Mediahuis operates in Belgium, the Netherlands, Luxembourg and Germany as well as in Ireland, and owns a range of media titles including established newspaper and digital brands, radio assets, classifieds business, and start-up stakes.
The CEO of Mediahuis Group, Gert Ysebaert, said the SPUR Coalition aims to address a key challenge facing the industry by ensuring that quality journalism is used responsibly in the development of AI.
He cited concerns over unlicensed use of journalistic content in AI models, lack of transparency in how AI systems use publisher content, and an absence of common standards for permission and payment as issues SPUR will work to address.
“Shared technical standards, licensing frameworks and reliable measurement tools are essential to secure a fair and transparent value exchange for our content. I believe this is a defining moment for European publishers as well, to join forces so that together we can actively shape how our journalism is used,” he said.
The challenges SPUR was formed to address are global in nature and require a global response, he said.
“Mediahuis joining as a founding member reflects SPUR’s ambition to operate as a truly international coalition in addressing these issues,” he said.
Since its launch in March the SPUR Coalition has undertaken technical work to enable tracking of content usage online, with the aim of establishing industry standards and the group is open to expanding its membership to other organisations whose primary activity is the creation of original journalism.