Companies / AI company
Microsoft
Microsoft in the AI training data market. Recorded here: 7 disclosed licensing deals, 6 lawsuits and rulings and 6 public prices.
microsoft.comLatest record 4 Sep 2026
Public prices involving Microsoft
- What one Taylor & Francis author says they earned for their book under the publisher's AI training licence to Microsoft
One anonymous author's receipt, quoted by Bloomberg (paywalled) and repeated by Slate; Taylor & Francis pays authors under their existing contract royalty terms and gave no opt-out. Close to the under-$100 per title Johns Hopkins University Press told its authors to expect.
Press report, Slate (3 November 2025), citing Bloomberg, Academic publishers sign AI deals as Trump cuts research funding (10 June 2025)
only $97per book (author's royalty)
- HarperCollins AI training licence fee actually paid to one author for one nonfiction backlist title (Writing Without Bullshit, 2016): three-year opt-in licence, author signed and received a cheque about a month later
First-hand account by the payee that the money was paid: he signed and a month or so later received the cheque (shown as an image on the page). It confirms one author was paid, not how many authors opted in or were paid. The buyer is not named by HarperCollins; Bernoff calls it 'this AI company (likely Microsoft)', so Microsoft is his inference. The programme is the one already held as an offer (harpercollins-microsoft-author-share-per-title) and as the gross (book-title); this is the realised payment.
The payer's own page, Josh Bernoff, Why I took the $2,500 check to license my book for AI (bernoff.com; withoutbullshit.com redirects to it)
$2,500per title (author's share of the per-title fee, before the agent's 15%)
- Author's half of HarperCollins' per-title AI training fee (select nonfiction backlist, three-year licence, buyer reported as Microsoft)
What the author receives: the publisher keeps the other $2,500. Opt-in; outputs capped at 200 consecutive words or 5% of a book. The $5,000 gross is already on the board as book-title.
Press report, The Decoder, Microsoft offers authors $5,000 to train AI on their books
$2,500 per bookper book (author's share of $5,000)
- One nonfiction book title, licensed for training for three years (HarperCollins)
A signed deal between HarperCollins and an AI company reported as Microsoft, paid for each backlist title whose author opts in, split equally between author and publisher. Agents called it a one-off done by contract addenda.
Press report, Publishers Weekly
$5,000 per titleper title
- Taylor & Francis academic books and journals licensed to Microsoft for AI (first year of the deal)
The $10m is the source's own conversion of about £8m. Authors were not told, could not opt out and were paid nothing extra, which is the rights risk a buyer prices in.
Press report, ISSN International Centre newsletter, Taylor & Francis sells access to research to Microsoft AI
almost £8m ($10m) in its first yearfirst year of the deal
- Rural Indian speakers recording speech data for Karya (supplier to Microsoft and Google)
Worker pay, well above the Indian minimum wage; workers also keep a share of the data for royalties.
Press report, Context (Thomson Reuters Foundation)
about $5 an hourper hour (paid to the speaker)
Licensing deals
- Jul 2026Nine Entertainment (The Australian Financial Review, The Sydney Morning Herald, The Age, Brisbane Times) to Microsoft (Copilot)Not disclosed
Shown in answers
- Feb 2026Usage-based; publisher-set pricing; Microsoft commission undisclosed
- Nov 2025People Inc. (formerly Dotdash Meredith, IAC) to MicrosoftDeal terms not shared
Shown in answers
- Nov 2024HarperCollins to MicrosoftNot disclosed
Training
- Oct 2024Reuters, Axel Springer, Hearst Magazines, USA Today Network, Financial Times to MicrosoftMicrosoft won't reveal payments or terms
Shown in answers
- May 2024Initial data access fee of around $10 million plus recurring payments over the following three years
- Apr 2024Rates vary by buyer and content type
Lawsuits, rulings and regulators
- Sep 2026New York Times v. Microsoft and OpenAI: cross-motions for summary judgment filed
Summary judgment motions pending; no trial date.
- Sep 2026In re OpenAI Copyright Infringement Litigation: US Justice Department statement of interest backing fair use
Filed; the court has not ruled on fair use.
- Apr 2025In re OpenAI Copyright Infringement Litigation: cases consolidated into an MDL
Consolidated pretrial proceedings in S.D.N.Y.
- Mar 2025New York Times v. Microsoft and OpenAI: motion to dismiss ruling
Core copyright claims proceed.
- Dec 2023New York Times v. Microsoft and OpenAI: complaint filed
Pending in the consolidated OpenAI MDL; see later records.
- Sep 2023Authors Guild v. OpenAI: class action filed
Pending; consolidated into In re OpenAI Copyright Infringement Litigation (MDL).
Cite this
AIData.Broker, “Microsoft in the AI training data market”, reviewed 4 Sep 2026. https://aidata.markets/companies/microsoft
Free to reuse under CC BY 4.0 if you credit AIData.Broker and link to this page. Each row names the publication that stated it, and words quoted from a source keep that source's own terms.