OpenAI inks Nordic news deal to feed ChatGPT’s 300M users

ChatGPT is about to get a lot more Scandinavian. OpenAI has struck a licensing deal with Schibsted Media Group, the Nordic publishing giant behind heavyweights like VG, Aftenposten, Aftonbladet, and Svenska Dagbladet. The arrangement plugs Schibsted’s journalism directly into OpenAI’s products, meaning those 300 million weekly active users can now get news summaries with clear attribution back to the original publishers. It’s a straightforward exchange: Schibsted gets distribution and a front-row seat to how AI monetizes news; OpenAI gets fresh, authoritative content from a region its models might otherwise treat as an afterthought.

Schibsted isn’t walking into this blind. The company has been knee-deep in AI experimentation already. Aftonbladet’s election chatbot fielded over 600,000 reader questions during the US presidential race. They’ve built tools that generate personalized weekly news summaries, convert text articles to audio, and even spin stories into video clips. This isn’t a publisher panicking about disruption — it’s one that’s been tinkering under the hood and now wants to see what happens when its content fuels the world’s most visible AI platform.

Siv Juvik Tveitnes, Schibsted Media’s CEO, framed the deal as a bet on journalism’s future rather than a concession to it. “By combining our editorial expertise with OpenAI’s technology and insight, we continue adapting to ensure that journalism evolves alongside technological advancements,” she said. The subtext is clear: publishers can either stand on the sidelines complaining about AI or grab a seat at the table and help shape the economics. Tveitnes explicitly called out the chance to “explore new commercial opportunities in the evolving digital ecosystem” — which is corporate-speak for figuring out whether these deals actually pay the bills.

Varun Shetty, OpenAI’s head of media partnerships, stuck to the familiar script about supporting quality journalism and enhancing the ChatGPT experience. But the real question is whether users will click through to the source material or simply read the AI-generated summary and move on. Schibsted is betting that attribution plus early involvement equals leverage. Whether that leverage translates into meaningful revenue — or just a temporary hedge against irrelevance — is what everyone in publishing is watching.