New York, New York - The New York Times has agreed to a deal for Amazon to use its content to train artificial intelligence models, the leading US newspaper announced Thursday in its first generative AI licensing deal.

Several media groups have already struck similar deals with major tech companies, but The New York Times had previously refused to allow its content to be used in the artificial intelligence race.

The newspaper is suing Amazon rival OpenAI, which it accuses of copyright infringement – using its content to train the generative AI chatbot ChatGPT without permission.

Amazon is adding the technology to its Alexa voice assistant, and the deal opens the door for New York Times content to be used by Alexa and its connected devices.

Financial terms were not disclosed.

"The deal is consistent with our long-held principle that high-quality journalism is worth paying for," Meredith Kopit Levien, chief executive of The Times, said in a note to staff.

The news sent The New York Times share price soaring, gaining 1.85% around 9:45 AM ET on the New York Stock Exchange and closing in on its all-time high, reached in early December.

Media outlets around the world are grappling with how to navigate artificial intelligence as it reshapes the global information landscape.

News Corp – owner of The Wall Street Journal – French newspaper Le Monde, The Washington Post and Axel Springer, which owns titles such as Bild and Politico, have all inked deals with OpenAI.

Google has signed with the Associated Press news agency, while Agence France-Presse has partnered with French artificial intelligence start-up Mistral.