The media industry is split between taking AI down and teaming up with it. Barry Diller, chairman and senior executive of IAC and Expedia Group and founder of the Fox Broadcasting Company and USA Broadcasting, was previously fired up about AI threatening the publishing world. He said it was time to “absolutely instigate litigation,” reports The Washington Post.

Here’s the plot twist. IAC just teamed up with Microsoft and OpenAI, giving OpenAI access to the company’s archives in exchange for sharing the links to the original stories, giving them web traffic. Which gives the impression that the media companies are trying to find their place in this AI gold rush.

Other media companies are also jumping on the bandwagon. The Associated Press, AxelSpringer, Le Monde, and Prisa Media are all cozying up to AI to improve their content and keep journalism alive. This came from the media companies’ initial defense of blocking OpenAI from scraping their sites. Now, the tech company started working on deals to pay for access to news.

Media companies are spending to produce news, but AI firms are the ones reaping the benefits, according to economist Haaris Mateen, “the costs of producing news is being borne by one side, while all the value is poised to be reaped by the other side.”

Some media big shots are still giving AI the cold shoulder. The New York Times started a legal battle with OpenAI last year for training their artificial intelligence technologies using the publication’s unauthorized published work.

Some are worried that media companies are selling themselves short by teaming up with AI. They're concerned that AI could replace traditional media. “Licensing deals to train the Automation Death Star [a.k.a AI] to be able to more precisely replicate your work in the future is the equivalent of feeling pleased with yourself that you made five bucks selling your house keys to some burglars,” writes journalist Hamilton Nolan.

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