Direct buyer
Apple
Apple says its foundation models are trained partly on data licensed from publishers, alongside public web data collected by its Applebot crawler, and that it does not use users' private personal data. Reuters reported a Shutterstock image deal likely worth $25 million to $50 million. Apple publishes no program, prices or terms for companies that want to sell it data.
Facts checked against Apple's own pages in November 2026. Visit Apple
At a glance
- What it buys
- Data licensed from publishers, according to Apple. Images from Shutterstock (reported)
- Published payout
- Not published. The Shutterstock deal is reported at $25 million to $50 million (Reuters)
- Who it buys from
- Mainly large publishers and platforms, by direct deal
- Exclusivity
- Not published
- Fee to seller
- Not published
- Payment timing
- Not published
Key takeaways
- Apple is a direct buyer.
- What it buys: Data licensed from publishers, according to Apple. Images from Shutterstock (reported).
- Published payout: Not published. The Shutterstock deal is reported at $25 million to $50 million (Reuters).
- Who it buys from: Mainly large publishers and platforms, by direct deal.
- Apple does not publish its exclusivity, fee to seller and payment timing.
- Facts checked on Apple's own pages in November 2026.
Where does Apple get its training data?
Apple trains its foundation models on data it has licensed from publishers and on publicly available information crawled by Applebot, according to its machine learning research post of June 9, 2025. Apple says it follows robots.txt so publishers can opt out of training, and that it does not use users' private personal data or interactions.
Which data deals has Apple made?
9to5Mac, citing Reuters, reported in April 2024 that Apple had licensed millions of Shutterstock images for AI training in a deal likely worth $25 million to $50 million. In December 2023 MacRumors, citing The New York Times, reported that Apple had proposed multiyear deals worth at least $50 million to Condé Nast, NBC News and IAC to license news archives for training.
Our AI data deals tracker lists no confirmed deal with Apple as licensee, because neither report was confirmed by Apple.
Can your company sell data to Apple?
Apple has no public page inviting companies to license data. Publishers who prefer not to supply training data can opt out through robots.txt rules for Applebot. Companies with records to license can compare published terms in our data buyers directory.
Comparing buyers?
Published payouts are ceilings, not quotes. We can put your records in front of several vetted buyers and compare offers on the same terms. Get a free valuation.
Sources
- Updates to Apple's on-device and server foundation language models, Apple, accessed November 2026
- Apple struck deal with Shutterstock to license millions of images for AI training, 9to5Mac, accessed November 2026
- Apple wants to partner with major publishers to train AI, MacRumors, accessed November 2026
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Apple is listed for reference. We are independent and this page is not an endorsement. If anything here is out of date, email hello@sellmydatatoai.net and we will correct it.