A new agreement will let Microsoft Copilot reference content from Nine’s major Australian mastheads. The deal aims to integrate trusted journalism into AI search results and direct users to original reporting.
Microsoft has reached a landmark agreement with Nine, Australia’s largest locally owned media company, to license journalism from its mastheads for use in Microsoft Copilot’s AI search results.
Under the deal, Copilot users searching for news will see snippets, headlines, and summaries from Nine’s outlets-including The Sydney Morning Herald, The Age, and The Australian Financial Review-alongside direct links to the original articles. This integration is designed to funnel users toward trusted news sources while ensuring that Nine’s journalism is credited and compensated.
Nine’s chief executive Matt Stanton described the partnership as essential for grounding AI-generated outputs in verified, premium journalism, emphasizing the importance of copyright protection and intellectual property value. Microsoft Australia and New Zealand president Jane Livesey said the agreement demonstrates how technology and media companies can collaborate to support the future of journalism, giving users confidence in the information they receive from Copilot.
The deal arrives amid ongoing debate in Australia over copyright and AI. Major tech companies, including Microsoft, Google, and OpenAI, have lobbied for changes to copyright law that would allow broader use of content for AI training, a move opposed by many in the creative and media sectors. This week, authors and musicians appeared in Canberra to urge the government not to grant copyright exemptions for AI companies, referencing past legal action against Anthropic for unauthorized use of copyrighted books.
Nine’s managing director of publishing, Tory Maguire, said the agreement with Microsoft opens new revenue opportunities for the company’s mastheads and supports the evolution of local journalism. While financial terms remain confidential, the deal is expected to create a significant new revenue stream for Nine and is the first such agreement between a major tech company and a leading news publisher in the Asia Pacific region.
According to company filings, Nine Entertainment Co. reported revenues of over AUD 2.7 billion in its most recent fiscal year and operates several of Australia’s most influential news brands. Microsoft Copilot, launched in 2023, has rapidly expanded its integration of licensed news content as AI-powered search tools become increasingly central to digital information access.
