Apple is reportedly in discussions with news publishers over licensing agreements that could give its AI-powered Siri access to current news and information, as the technology company prepares to expand the capabilities of its redesigned voice assistant.
The proposed arrangements are expected to be multiyear deals under which participating publishers would provide Apple access to their content for use within Siri AI. The discussions have not yet resulted in publicly announced agreements, and Apple has not officially disclosed the publishers involved.
According to reports, Apple is considering a compensation model in which publishers would receive payments based on how frequently their content is used rather than receiving only a fixed licensing fee. The company has reportedly discussed allocating a nine-figure budget to the initiative.
The negotiations come as Apple prepares to roll out a significantly upgraded version of Siri powered by its next generation of Apple Intelligence.
Apple unveiled Siri AI at its Worldwide Developers Conference in June. The company describes it as a more personal and conversational version of the assistant, capable of understanding personal context, searching across apps and taking actions on behalf of users.
One of the assistant's key capabilities is accessing the web to retrieve up-to-date information and generate responses using broader world knowledge. Access to licensed news content could potentially provide another source of current information as Siri responds to questions about news and ongoing events.
Apple's reported approach also reflects a wider shift in the relationship between technology companies and publishers as generative AI products increasingly use professionally produced content.
News organisations have raised questions about how their journalism is accessed, used and presented by AI platforms. In response, several AI companies have entered licensing or commercial partnerships with publishers, creating new models for compensating media organisations when their content is incorporated into AI products.
Apple has explored publisher partnerships for AI before. In 2023, the company was reported to have approached media organisations including Condé Nast, NBC News and IAC about multiyear agreements to license archives of news content for generative AI development.
The latest reported discussions appear more closely linked to delivering current information through Siri rather than solely obtaining material for training AI models.
Apple already has an established relationship with the publishing industry through Apple News and Apple News+, its subscription-based news service that provides users with content from participating publications.
The company's move towards AI-generated information has not been without challenges. Apple previously faced criticism over inaccurate AI-generated notification summaries involving news stories, prompting changes to how the feature handled news and entertainment content.
The latest publisher discussions come as Apple competes with Google, OpenAI and other technology companies to develop AI assistants capable of retrieving information and completing tasks through conversational interfaces.
For publishers, licensing arrangements could create another commercial route for distributing journalism through AI interfaces. For Apple, access to professionally produced and frequently updated news content could support its effort to make Siri more useful for queries involving current events.
Apple has said Siri AI will become available in beta later in 2026. The reported publisher negotiations indicate that content partnerships may form part of the company's broader strategy as it moves Siri deeper into AI-powered information discovery.