Financial Times chief executive John Ridding has told other news publishers they “have leverage and should insist on payment” from AI companies.

His words for the industry at the WAN-IFRA World News Media Congress in Copenhagen came one month after the Financial Times became the first UK news publisher to announce a licensing deal with OpenAI.

Ridding said on Tuesday of the deal that the FT had wanted to be an “early mover” but also to understand the potential use cases and impact of AI and to broaden its overall reach.