My weekend has been spent pondering the news from up North: Canada’s major news organizations band together to sue ChatGPT creator OpenAI. I’ve gotten to know the Canadian marketplace better through our work on Digital Day Camp, and I can see this happening in such a tight-knit community. Perhaps this is the blueprint for other markets. The US? I’m skeptical.
Litigation and legislation aren’t going to solve most publishers’ problems. AI, however, feels different. There is no stopping the advance of technology. I’m sure, like most of you, you aren’t going back once you start AI-ing (did I just make that a verb?). Search was always “pick your adventure.” AI is “Let me point you in the right direction, and I’ll take you most of the way there, if not all the way.” But who created the path that AI takes you down? Publishers.
The problem publishers have always had with charging individual users is that most of our content can be found elsewhere. Forget the fact that most of that other content is copied or reproduced – “content leakage” is real, expected, and accepted. The value proposition required to charge has never been established or protected. Subscription revenue is for the few who can command it.
Perhaps AI is different; it needs access to content at a speed and scale no human population can compete with. To say AI developers get free access to our content to build their models is something we can certainly question and push back on.
Sampling in music used to be a free-for-all. I think it’s fair to say that if you sample someone’s music today, you’re going to pay up or get sued. Perhaps we need to take a lesson from the music industry and make sure creators get their fair share.
Event Focus
AdTech Economic Forum NYC is where advertising and finance leadership convenes to address industry challenges, opportunities, growth, and value creation viewed through economic fundamentals and valuation.
We are pleased to share that the second annual AdTech Economic Forum NYC is returning on March 19, 2025, with the following returning industry leaders:
- Sir Martin Sorrell
- Sanja Partalo
- Joe Marchese
- Laura Martin
- Shweta Khajuria
- Eric Franchi
- Reed Rayman
- Stephen Master
- Bob Lord
- Brian O’Kelley
- Rishad Tobaccowala
- Brian Wieser
- John Kunschner
- Dan Salmon
Look for more speaker announcements in the upcoming weeks!
A full list of our 2025 events:
- AdTech Economic Forum London – February 6
- Base●Camp: Red Rock Canyon, NV – March 2-5
be one of the first to register! - AdTech Economic Forum NYC – March 19
- Digital Day Camp Toronto – April 9
- Navigator NYC – May 6 NEW date
- Beeler●BASH! – June 4 NEW date
- Navigator London – June 10 NEW date
- Base●Camp: Savannah, GA – October 5-8
- Base●Camp: Lisbon, Portugal – November 2-5
More things to keep your eyes out for:
- Read our take on the top updates/news items from around the industry this past week.
- Consider OPE (Other People’s Events)
- Look for your next job on our job board. Better yet – sign up for our Jobs Newsletter (delivered every Thursday). Subscribe here.
- Fill your open positions by helping us help you: Submit a job and check out a job seeker like Job Seeker 68, who is “seeking a Director or Lead position in Business Operations, Media Planning & Strategy, or Pricing & Packaging.”