Which Brazilian publications are partnering with OpenAI?

Folha de S.Paulo and Grupo UOL, two of Brazil's largest news organizations. According to OpenAI's announcement, both are among Brazil's most relevant sources of original reporting.

How will the partnership work?

ChatGPT users will see journalism summaries and article references from Folha and UOL within the platform, with links back to original sources and proper attribution.

Is this OpenAI's first media deal globally?

No. According to the OpenAI Blog, the company has already signed partnerships with publishers in the United States, UK, France, and Germany. This is specifically the first partnership in Brazil.

What do the publishers gain from the deal?

According to OpenAI, Folha and UOL gain access to new global audiences through ChatGPT and receive tools to explore new product features and internal workflows.

OpenAI Expands Media Partnerships to Brazil with Folha de S.Paulo and UOL

OpenAI has formalized a content licensing deal with Folha de S.Paulo and Grupo UOL, marking the artificial intelligence company’s entry into Brazil’s media market. Starting May 25, the two publishers’ journalism will surface within ChatGPT through article summaries, attribution, and direct links to original reporting. According to the OpenAI Blog, this represents OpenAI’s first media partnership in Brazil and extends a licensing strategy already active across the United States, UK, France, and Germany.

Global Scale of the Distribution Channel

The partnership grants Folha and UOL access to ChatGPT’s 900 million weekly active users worldwide, according to OpenAI’s announcement. The scale is significant: OpenAI identifies Brazil specifically as one of its largest markets, though the company did not disclose user metrics in the partnership announcement. The deal emphasizes OpenAI’s model of embedding publisher content directly into conversational AI interfaces rather than simply scraping or paraphrasing without attribution.

OpenAI’s Expanding Publisher Network

According to the OpenAI Blog, the company frames this partnership as part of a “broader effort to work collaboratively with news organizations around the world.” Varun Shetty, VP of Media Partnerships at OpenAI, stated that integrating Folha and UOL’s reporting aims to bring “useful, timely, and locally relevant answers to ChatGPT, while supporting the broader news ecosystem.” The statement signals OpenAI’s intent to localize content within ChatGPT by geography—a strategic pivot from its previous emphasis on English-language training data.

Publisher Positioning on AI and Licensing

Both publishers framed the deal as a response to AI’s reshaping of journalism. According to the OpenAI Blog, Sérgio Dávila, Editor-in-Chief of Folha de S.Paulo, stated that OpenAI’s interest in displaying their content “reinforces the importance of professional journalism.” Carlos Ponce de Leon, Folha’s Co-CEO, characterized the partnership as placing the publication “at the forefront of this transformation” in the news industry. Paulo Samia, CEO of UOL, argued that “AI platforms benefit from reliable sources for news,” justifying commercial licensing.

Why This Matters

This deal signals a shifting calculus among major Latin American publishers toward licensing content to LLM platforms rather than resisting or litigating. For Folha and UOL, the partnership creates a revenue stream and audience expansion mechanism at a moment when traditional digital advertising is under pressure. For OpenAI, securing Brazilian publishers strengthens its defense against claims that it deploys journalism without compensation—a concern regulators in the EU and courts in the US have raised. The partnership’s success will likely influence whether smaller regional publishers across Latin America pursue similar licensing, potentially fragmenting the media landscape into “licensed” and “unlicensed” content tiers within AI platforms by Q3 2026.