People Inc. forges AI licensing deal with Microsoft as Google traffic drops

This is the real story of 2026. IP holders are finally getting paid for training data. People Inc. lost Google traffic (declining relevance), so licensing's a survival move—but it's also smart. They're licensing to Microsoft, who's building its moat with paid content instead of just scraping like everyone else.

That gap matters. If Microsoft keeps paying while others pirate, paid content creators stay profitable. Everyone else starves. It's the beginning of the data supply chain fracturing into licensed vs. stolen.