Publishers’ SPUR coalition releases an AI tracking standard and invites OpenAI and Google

SPUR, a coalition of news publishers that includes the BBC, the Financial Times and the Guardian, released version 1.0 of its Content Telemetry Standard on 2 October. The AI tracking standard sets one common way for AI companies to report how they use publishers’ content. SPUR also asked OpenAI, Anthropic, Google, Meta and Microsoft to join a new advisory board, Digiday reports.

SPUR follows an article from retrieval to the reader’s click

The June draft of the standard tracked content through five stages: retrieval, grounding, citing, display and engagement. Reports go to a place the publisher chooses, event by event and in real time. Version 1.0 adds images, audio and video, not only text. It also fits more easily with provenance standards such as C2PA, which label where a file came from.

OpenAI, Anthropic, Google, Meta and Microsoft get an invitation

The new AI Licensing Advisory Board should have about 20 members. Its first meeting is planned for October. Google told Digiday it engages often with SPUR and other groups. The other four companies did not reply before Digiday published.

Co-founder David Buttle said the board gives “both sides of the equation” a seat at the table. Publishers already test other ways to get paid. Google’s AI contribution pilot pays about 100 publishers, and US news groups took a bill on hidden AI crawlers to Congress.

SPUR does not sell licences for its members

SPUR is a non-profit funded only by its members. Its website says it is not a collective licensing body, so each publisher signs its own deals with AI firms. Members include the BBC, the Financial Times, Sky News, the Guardian, the Telegraph, the Associated Press and Mediahuis.

The next date is 15 October, when the technical committee meets on auditing and evidence. Whether any AI company has joined the board by then will show if the standard gets used outside the coalition.