Most large language models are built on human content, and newsrooms are paying the price: many readers now turn to AI for answers drawn from journalism that was never properly licensed.

As a result, the Standards for Publisher Usage Rights, or SPUR, coalition was formed in February 2026 to combat unauthorized AI content scraping. While it was first started by the UK-based publications, on Tuesday, the coalition welcomed more than 40 new members, including The New York Times, The Atlantic, The Observer, and The Economist, bringing the total up to 80 members and more than 20 countries globally.

Ultimately, the goal of SPUR is to bring the publishers together to set standards and rules for how AI systems can use publishers' copyrighted media, with licensing as the default way to do so. A key part of succeeding is showing a unified front, David Buttle, spokesperson at SPUR, told The Deep View.

"Over recent years, media publishers have been fighting the battle in silos for scant reward," said Buttle."That’s why the time is so ripe for this coalition. We now know this isn’t a battle that can be won with a fragmented front."

SPUR recently published the Content Telemetry Standard which is meant to create a standardized process in which AI labs can record which media is used to train their models and how they report that information to the publishers. It also says it is actively working with industry partners to make sure the framework is implemented effectively, and is developing tooling that makes it easy to do so.

The New York Times is a fitting partner for the coalition, as it has been one of the most outspoken publications regarding the misuse of AI using its content, suing OpenAI and Microsoft in 2023 on the basis of copyright infringement for using its content without consent to train its chatbots.

"High quality journalism is crucial to healthy democracies and to the functioning of AI products and experiences," Rebecca Grossman-Cohen, SVP of strategic partnerships and executive operations for The New York Times, said in the announcement. "We are proud to work with SPUR to develop robust standards and protections for copyrighted content that are not unilaterally set by tech platforms."

Our Deeper View

It’s really interesting how much the conversation around AI in newsrooms has shifted. Early on, many argued that the clearest way to protect journalism was to keep AI out of newsrooms entirely. Now, respected legacy outlets like Bloomberg and Reuters are using AI to improve reader experiences, such as summaries at the top of articles. This fits well with a line from the New York Times’ release: “Intellectual property protection and technological advancement can and must co-exist.” Ideally, newsrooms should be free to take advantage of AI, and even to decide whether to let AI companies use their content, if they find it beneficial. The real problem right now is that newsrooms often don’t have a say in those decisions at all.