Still, some news executives were optimistic that Apple’s approach might eventually lead to a meaningful partnership. Two people familiar with the discussions struck a positive note on the long-term prospects of a deal, contrasting Apple’s approach of asking for permission with behavior from other artificial intelligence-enabled companies, which have been accused of seeking licensing deals with news organizations after they had already used their content to train generative models.

In recent years, Apple executives have been debating how to accumulate the data needed to build generative A.I. products, according to two people familiar with the work. Some of its rivals have been accused of taking written material from across the internet without the permission of the artists, writers and coders who created it, leading to several copyright lawsuits.

Apple has been reluctant to take information from the internet, partly because of its commitment to privacy. After it acquired the social analytics start-up Topsy in 2013, Apple’s leadership asked that Topsy stop collecting information from Twitter, saying that doing so violated the company’s policy against collecting data on Apple customers, who might also post on the social media site, these two people said.

The explosion of artificial intelligence has raised alarms among news executives, many of whom are concerned that generative A.I. products like OpenAI’s ChatGPT could draw in readers who would otherwise consume their news on platforms for their own subscribers and advertisers.

Print news organizations, which decades ago saw their lucrative classifieds business demolished by online competitors, have been particularly wary about striking deals with A.I. organizations, engaging cautiously with an eye toward preserving their existing businesses.