Apple offers publishers a nine-figure Siri AI deal

Apple is discussing multiyear content deals with news publishers to give its upcoming Siri AI access to current events and information. The proposals could include a nine-figure budget, according to reporting cited by MacRumors and 9to5Mac.

Rather than paying a fixed fee for broad access, Apple has discussed a variable compensation model in which publishers would be paid when Siri uses their content. The approach would give Apple a way to source fresher news while tying payments to actual usage.

Apple has previously signed agreements that included rights to use publisher content for AI training. It has also worked with publishers through Apple News+ since 2019, although some publishers have criticized those arrangements and ended their partnerships.

The proposed deals come as publishers take different approaches to AI companies. The New York Times is suing OpenAI and Microsoft over alleged unauthorized use of its work, while News Corp and Axel Springer have licensed content to OpenAI. Reddit has pursued both strategies: it reportedly agreed to a deal with Google worth about $60 million per year while also suing Anthropic and Perplexity over alleged unauthorized data scraping, according to 9to5Mac’s account of the report.

Apple declined to comment when approached by The Wall Street Journal, according to 9to5Mac. The company has not disclosed which publishers it is negotiating with or how the proposed compensation would be calculated.

Siri AI is scheduled to launch in fall 2026 as part of iOS 27, iPadOS 27, and macOS 27. Apple has a clear reason to prioritize reliable news retrieval: its iOS 18 notification summaries generated false headlines that misled users, prompting Apple to remove news summaries for more than a year while it made improvements.