Amazon plans AI content marketplace for publishers

Amazon is preparing to launch a new marketplace that would allow publishers to sell their content directly to companies developing artificial intelligence (AI) products.

According to a report by The Information, the move signals Amazon’s growing interest in positioning itself as a key intermediary between content creators and AI firms amid intensifying debates over data usage and compensation.

Ahead of an Amazon Web Services (AWS) conference scheduled for Tuesday, the company reportedly shared presentation slides with publishing executives outlining plans for a so-called content marketplace. 

The slides, cited by two people familiar with the discussions, place the proposed marketplace alongside AWS’s core AI offerings, including Bedrock and QuickSight, suggesting it could become part of Amazon’s broader AI ecosystem.

The initiative comes at a time when publishers and AI companies are locked in negotiations over how online content can be used to train AI models or generate responses for users. 

Media groups have increasingly pushed for licensing arrangements that include usage-based fees, arguing that compensation should scale with how often their content is accessed or processed by AI systems.

While Amazon declined to confirm the details of the reported project, a company spokesperson said it had “nothing specific to share” and emphasised Amazon’s long-standing relationships with publishers, as well as its ongoing efforts to innovate in the AI space.

The report also follows similar moves by competitors. Microsoft recently announced it is developing a Publisher Content Marketplace, an AI licensing hub designed to clearly display publishers’ usage terms and conditions.

If launched, Amazon’s marketplace could further formalize the relationship between publishers and AI developers, potentially reshaping how digital content is licensed and monetized in the AI era.