Google said on 15 October 2026 that more than 400 publications worldwide were participating in its News AI pilot, which pays publishers to supply content for AI features in Google News.
Key points
- Google named Axios, CNN, the Financial Times and Forbes among its newest partners, alongside US local publishers.
- The company says it pays publications for enhanced content used to develop article overviews and audio briefings.
- The pilot uses different payment terms from a parallel programme for content surfaced in AI Overviews, AI Mode and Gemini.
Google adds global and US publishers
Google named Axios, CNN, the Financial Times and Forbes among the pilot’s newest participants. Its list also includes Post and Courier, Texas Tribune, Oil City News and Shaw Media in the United States. The group spans international news organisations and publishers serving smaller US markets.
The company put participation at more than 400 publications. MediaPost reported the total as 400 publications. Both accounts describe the expansion announced on 15 October.
The pilot began in December 2025 with publishers including the Washington Examiner and the Washington Post. Google’s announcement names both as partners from its earlier group, while its latest list adds organisations with different audiences and types of coverage.
Google announced the programme on 10 December 2025, Unite.AI reported. The initial group also included Der Spiegel, El País, Folha de S. Paulo, Infobae, Kompas, the Guardian and the Times of India. Google said at launch that it was testing article overviews and experimenting with audio briefings.
Google pays publishers for enhanced content
Google says its licensing programme pays news publishers to provide enhanced content for use in developing new AI features.
Google declined to comment on the exact terms of the deals, Nieman Lab reported. Brianna Puccini Duff, a Google spokesperson, told the publication that the News AI pilot does not use a “pay-per-value” model. Under that model, publishers would be paid according to how much their content contributes to an AI-generated output.
A parallel programme pays publishers for content surfaced in AI Overviews, AI Mode and Gemini, Nieman Lab reported. MediaPost reported that Google was paying roughly 100 publishers in that programme in September, with payments based on their content’s contribution to AI-powered answers and other products.
The News AI pilot offers payments for content used in feature development, while the parallel programme uses a measure of contribution to AI output.
Google News tests article and audio formats
Google says the pilot’s features include in-depth article overviews on publishers’ Google News pages and audio briefings that listeners can customise. The company says the features carry attribution and direct links to publishers’ material.
The article overviews are AI-generated previews of recent stories that may appear on a publisher’s Google News page, Nieman Lab reported. Its account included an example on the Washington Post’s page carrying a disclaimer that the generated copy “may include mistakes”.
The audio briefing is a customisable podcast in the Google News app that combines daily headlines. Listeners can select topics including World, Gaming and Sports. Citations in the briefing link to the articles it mentions.
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