News publishers are shifting their AI licensing strategies from flat-fee agreements to usage-based payment models, aiming to receive compensation based on how frequently their content is utilized in AI-generated responses. This change is driven by the rapid growth of AI companies like OpenAI, which reportedly generates about $1 billion in monthly revenue and has seen a 305% increase in web crawler traffic between May 2024 and May 2025. Publishers are exploring several compensation frameworks, including a combination of crawl fees plus usage royalties, access control with a publisher-AI marketplace, and publisher-branded large language models (LLMs). AI firms such as Perplexity are developing usage-based payment models, with potential launches anticipated within weeks. Meanwhile, platforms like Meta are signaling possible changes in their AI licensing approaches, reflecting evolving industry dynamics around "AI grounding," which focuses on how AI systems incorporate publisher content. These developments indicate a broader reconsideration of how publishers monetize their content in the AI ecosystem.