Microsoft Corp. × HarperCollins Publishers
Microsoft and HarperCollins offered a deal to authors to license select nonfiction backlist titles for AI training. [49] The deal structure involves a flat fee of $5,000 per book for a three-year license, split equally between the publisher and the author, who receives $2,500. [29, 32, 49] The offer is opt-in, meaning authors must agree to participate; the total value of the deal is therefore undisclosed as it depends on author participation. [49]
The asset
A selection of nonfiction backlist book titles and associated metadata for the purpose of training, fine-tuning, and testing AI models.
The record
- Seller status
- Going concern
- Sector
- book publishing
- Modalities
- text
- Jurisdiction
- US
- Personal data
- undisclosed
What it means if you hold data
This is a significant early example of a major technology company and a major book publisher establishing a per-unit price for AI training rights on backlist content. The opt-in nature and direct payment to authors set a potential precedent for how creative works are valued and licensed in the AI economy, distinct from large-scale, non-transparent content dumps.