Apple courts publishers with variable-rate deals to feed real-time news into Siri

Apple is negotiating with media publishers to license their journalism for an upcoming overhaul of Siri, aiming to give the voice assistant access to live news and current events, according to reporting from The Wall Street Journal.

A New Payment Model#

Instead of pursuing the industry-standard fixed licensing deal, Apple has put forward a dynamic compensation structure that ties publisher payouts directly to actual content usage. Rather than signing agreements that guarantee broad access at a set price, this approach functions as a usage-based model where media outlets earn when their stories power Siri responses. The company has reportedly budgeted hundreds of millions of dollars for these arrangements.

Siri's Long-Awaited Update#

The publisher talks reflect Apple's broader effort to substantially improve Siri, which has lagged behind competing voice assistants despite years of development commitments. A revamped AI-powered version is slated to arrive before year-end, marking a significant step toward delivering on promises to users that the assistant would become more intelligent and responsive.

Apple declined to comment on the negotiations when reached by TechCrunch.