WHEREAS the media and professional journalism play an essential role in democratic societies by producing original content and verified, rigorous, high-quality information that helps build an informed citizenry, hold those in power accountable, and foster free, pluralistic public debate grounded in facts
WHEREAS the sustained production of such information requires substantial investments by news organizations, including hiring and training journalists, financing investigative reporting, maintaining correspondent networks, engaging specialists in different disciplines, purchasing and/or developing technologies, and carrying out editorial and fact-checking processes, among other activities
WHEREAS the expansion of generative artificial intelligence systems is transforming the ways in which citizens search for, access, and consume information, and these systems use original journalistic content both in their training processes and in generating answers, summaries, and other informational products
WHEREAS content produced by news organizations constitutes a particularly valuable input for these systems because of its professional standards of verification, contextualization, and editorial responsibility, and its use helps improve the quality, reliability, and usefulness of artificial intelligence services
WHEREAS artificial intelligence offers opportunities to broaden access to knowledge but also poses risks related to disinformation, including the reproduction of false or inaccurate information, the generation of misleading content, and the loss of traceability to original sources, all of which can undermine public trust and affect democratic debate
WHEREAS artificial intelligence engines, by providing answers that synthesize or reproduce information produced by news organizations, may divert users from directly accessing original journalistic sources, thereby affecting their audiences, revenues, and ability to finance the production of new content, while continuing to benefit from the information those same news organizations generate
WHEREAS the use of journalistic content by artificial intelligence systems without adequate authorization and compensation mechanisms may result in a transfer of economic value from those who invest in producing original information to those who use and profit from it, jeopardizing journalism’s sustainability and deepening existing imbalances in the digital ecosystem
WHEREAS certain contractual practices by platforms, AI engines, and social networks, through adhesion contracts, unilateral changes to terms of use, or mechanisms for tacit authorization—as occurred recently with an announcement by Meta—may impose abusive conditions that undermine news organizations’ ability to decide how their content is used by artificial intelligence systems
WHEREAS collective initiatives by the journalism industry, such as the SPUR (Standards for Publisher Usage Rights) Coalition, which the IAPA recently joined alongside other media associations from the Americas, represent significant progress toward developing international standards for identifying, tracing, and measuring the use of journalistic content, as well as facilitating transparent licensing mechanisms and fair compensation
WHEREAS international initiatives and declarations, such as the United Nations Global Principles for Information Integrity, UNESCO’s guidelines on the governance of digital platforms and its work on fair remuneration for news, as well as the contributions of Pope Leo XIV’s encyclical Magnifica Humanitas on truth, human responsibility, and artificial intelligence governance, help foster a universal discussion on the need to preserve a pluralistic, reliable, and sustainable information ecosystem
WHEREAS the challenges posed by artificial intelligence transcend national borders and require international cooperation to establish common principles that can reduce imbalances between technology companies and information producers while respecting the specific characteristics of different legal systems
WHEREAS the IAPA’s Salta II Declaration recognizes the right of publishers and creators to negotiate and receive fair compensation for the use of their intellectual property by technology intermediaries and artificial intelligence system developers, as well as the need to promote balanced and transparent negotiating conditions and alternative dispute resolution mechanisms when negotiations fail.
THE 82nd GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE IAPA RESOLVES
To reaffirm the essential role of independent, professional, high-quality journalism as a reliable source of information, a fundamental input for public debate, and an indispensable condition for the functioning of democratic societies
To emphasize that journalism’s economic sustainability is a matter of public interest, closely linked to freedom of expression, freedom of the press, and citizens’ right to receive information
To urge companies developing artificial intelligence engines and systems to recognize the value of professional journalistic information in ensuring the reliability of their services and to prioritize original, verified, high-quality sources when generating informational responses, using transparent criteria that preserve diversity and pluralism. To also promote effective mechanisms for identifying and attributing sources and enabling access to original sources as part of their responsibility to combat disinformation
To call on artificial intelligence developers and news organizations to engage in good-faith negotiations to establish balanced and sustainable agreements on the use of journalistic content
To demand respect for the copyright and intellectual property rights of news organizations, as well as the establishment of transparent and equitable mechanisms for authorization, licensing, and fair compensation for the use of their content in the training and operation of artificial intelligence systems, recognizing both the investments required to produce such content and the value it contributes to technology services
To welcome and promote collective initiatives by the journalism industry, such as the SPUR Coalition, aimed at developing standards and tools to identify, measure, and manage the use of journalistic content by artificial intelligence systems. To also support international and supranational initiatives aimed at building a more balanced digital ecosystem, including contributions from the United Nations, UNESCO, and other institutions
To urge public authorities in the countries of the Americas, particularly legislative and judicial bodies, to recognize the significance of these transformations and, within their respective jurisdictions, promote legislative and legal solutions that reduce economic and negotiating power imbalances, protect intellectual property rights, and ensure conditions for fair compensation for the value created by news organizations and used by platforms and artificial intelligence systems
To reaffirm that defending fair compensation for the use of journalistic content is not merely an economic demand by the media industry, but a necessary condition for preserving the production of original, independent, high-quality information, upon which both the reliability of emerging technological systems and the full exercise of citizens’ rights and the vitality of democracies depend.
