
Content Licensing in 2026: What Publishers and AI Companies Should Expect
The AI content licensing market is maturing fast. Here are our predictions for how the publisher-AI relationship will evolve in 2026—and how to position for success.
What Encypher does: Insights from the Co-Chair of the C2PA Text Provenance Task Force on AI content authentication, content attribution, and licensing infrastructure. Standard publishes January 8, 2026.
Who it's for: Publishers seeking licensing strategies, AI labs exploring compliance, legal professionals interested in content attribution, and developers building with our API and SDKs.
Key differentiator: Written by the team co-chairing C2PA (c2pa.org) with NYT, BBC, AP, Google, OpenAI, Adobe, Microsoft and others - insider perspective on standards development.
Primary value: Stay informed on market licensing frameworks, regulatory developments, and technical innovations in cryptographic watermarking.
From the Authors of the C2PA Text StandardFrom the Authors of the C2PA Text Standard: Building Infrastructure for the AI Content Economy.

The AI content licensing market is maturing fast. Here are our predictions for how the publisher-AI relationship will evolve in 2026—and how to position for success.