DataPacts states a figure only when it can name the primary source behind it and the date that source was checked. Every payout, deal value, court status and legal deadline on the site follows that rule, and a value that cannot be traced to a primary source is left out.
The rules below apply to every page on AI training data licensing, for sellers, buyers and advisers alike. They cover which sources count, how buyer claims and contradictions are written, how court status is kept current and how an error is reported. Each page is checked against these rules before publication, and the check date appears wherever a figure does.
Which sources count, by type
Five kinds of primary source count: laws and regulators, court dockets, company filings, buyers' own pages and interviews with named people.
The table below lists each type, what it is used for and one dated example from the record (as of 2026-11-09).
| Source type | Used for | Example on record | As of | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Laws and regulators | legal statements with instrument, article and date | EU AI Act, Regulation (EU) 2024/1689, in force 2024-08-01, Art. 53 applies from 2025-08-02 | 2026-11-09 | eur-lex.europa.eu |
| Court dockets | case and sale status with court, docket number and entry | Spirit Airlines, Bankr. S.D.N.Y. 25-11897 (SHL), Dkt. 1463 (auction 2026-08-14) | 2026-11-09 | courtlistener.com docket PDF |
| Company filings | deal and revenue values stated by the filer | Reddit S-1: January 2024 data licensing arrangements, aggregate contract value USD 203.0 million, counterparties unnamed | 2024-02-22 | sec.gov |
| Buyers' own pages | program terms, payouts and referral fees, as the buyer's claim | micro1 states tiers of USD 100K-500K, USD 500K-3M and USD 3M+, checked 2026-11-09 | 2026-11-09 | micro1.ai |
| Interviews with named people | statements attributed to a named person and outlet | used only where the person and outlet are named; no example needed on this page | n/a | n/a |
Inside a sentence, a source is cited by its issuer, its instrument or docket number, and its date, so that the reader can find the same document without leaving the sentence. A law is cited by its official number and the date it is in force or applies, never by a press summary. A docket entry is cited by its number and date, and a filing value is attributed to the filer with the filing date. Interviews count only when the person and the outlet are both named.
Sources that never count, and values left out
Wikipedia is never a source, and no figure from a competitor or broker site is stated as fact. Three kinds of material stay out of the record:
- Wikipedia, in any form.
- Competitor and broker sites, including their market summaries and payout comparisons.
- Figures that exist only in secondary sources, which are left out or labeled unverified, never rounded up. A figure that cannot be sourced is not stated at all.
A value reported only by the press is not stated, even when it is widely repeated. News Corp and OpenAI announced a multi-year agreement on 2024-05-22, and the parties did not disclose a value, so the value cell for that deal reads "not disclosed". The same rule covers a reported amount that no party has confirmed: the page states what the parties announced and stops there.
Buyer figures as dated claims
A payout, referral fee or paid-out total from a buyer's own page is written as that buyer's claim, with the date it was checked. The sentence form is fixed: micro1 states company data payout tiers of USD 100K-500K, USD 500K-3M and USD 3M+, checked 2026-11-09. The figure belongs to the buyer, the date belongs to DataPacts, and the two never separate. When a buyer changes its page, the earlier value is not kept as current, and the new check date shows which version the page describes.
Claims are not rounded, averaged or turned into a market price, and a program range is never written as money paid. The side-by-side view of payouts and program terms compared keeps each claim with its own check date, so an older claim cannot pass as current. The same claim never appears as a payout actually made unless the buyer's page says money was paid.
How contradictions are shown
When two primary sources disagree, both values appear with their sources and dates, and neither is picked silently. Three examples from the record show the form:
- Troveo states "$50M+ paid to creators globally" on its content-owners page and "$20M+ Paid to Licensors" on its business-data page, both checked 2026-11-09.
- Handshake AI headlines "Earn $100K to $4M+" while the estimator text on the same page holds both "$400,000-$800,000+" and "up to $100,000", checked 2026-11-09.
- For 2025, Straits Research estimates USD 2.81 billion (report as of 2026-08-24) and Fortune Business Insights estimates USD 3.59 billion (page updated 2026-10-19), each its publisher's own estimate.
The reader sees the disagreement itself, because a gap between two sources is information about how uncertain the figure is. Publisher estimates are kept apart and never averaged into one number. The estimates of the AI training data market therefore appear one publisher per row, each with its report date.
Pending versus final: court and deal status
A case or court-supervised sale is described with its status as of a stated date, taken from the docket, and pending matters are never written as decided. The Spirit Airlines de-identified data sale shows the pending form: Google LLC is the successful bidder (Dkt. 1463, Bankr. S.D.N.Y. 25-11897 (SHL), 2026-08-14), the sale is not approved as of 2026-11-09, and a hearing is set for 2026-11-17 (Dkt. 1779). A successful bid is never written as a purchase.
The final form is the same in structure. In Bartz v. Anthropic (N.D. Cal. 3:24-cv-05417), the court entered final approval and judgment on 2026-07-20 (Dkt. 680), and the settlement is written as final from that date, not as proposed. The earlier preliminary approval of the settlement is never called final.
Each entry in the tracker of AI copyright lawsuits over training data carries its court, docket number and status as of a date, and the status changes only when a new docket entry changes it. Where a hearing is adjourned or cancelled, the page follows the later docket entry, not the earlier schedule.
As-of dates, source columns and stable table anchors
Every data table on DataPacts carries an as-of date, a source column and a fixed anchor, so a citation to a table keeps working after the table is updated.
Anchors are never renamed, dates in tables are ISO dates, and the source column names the kind of document behind each row, so a reader can see at a glance whether a value is a law, a docket entry, a filing or a buyer's claim. The table below lists the anchors in use (as of 2026-11-09).
| Anchor | Page | What the table holds | Source column carries |
|---|---|---|---|
| #buyer-directory | /buyers/ | every buyer, what it acquires, program on record | buyer's own page |
| #programme-terms | /tools/terms/ | dated program terms and payouts as claims | buyer's own page |
| #deal-tracker | /deals/ | licensing deals with parties, dates, values if public | party release or filing |
| #case-tracker | /cases/ | cases with court, docket and status as of a date | docket entry |
| #market-estimates | /market/ | market-size estimates by publisher | publisher report |
When figures are re-checked
Each type of source is re-checked on its own cycle, set by how often that source changes. The table below shows the editorial practice (as of 2026-11-09).
| Source type | When it is re-checked | What changes |
|---|---|---|
| Buyers' program pages | before a page using them is published, and monthly | values and the check date |
| Court dockets | before every update of a case or sale page | status and the "as of" date |
| Company filings (10-Q, 10-K and equivalents) | quarterly | values and the filing cited |
| Laws, amendments and regulator documents | when amended or newly published | citation, dates in force or applicable |
| Market reports | yearly | the publisher's estimate and its report date |
A re-check gives every figure it confirms a new check date. A changed value replaces the old one, and the change is noted on the page.
Reporting an error
Errors can be reported to editorial@datapacts.com, ideally with the page, the value and a primary source that shows the correct one. A report that names the page and the source can be checked directly against the record. DataPacts makes no promise about how quickly a report is answered, but each report is read against the primary source it names.
A corrected value gets a new check date. A public corrections log is planned, and until it is published the route above is the only one; the public corrections log will list each change once it exists.
Related trust pages
The rules on this page work together with the editorial policy, the disclosure of funding and the About page.
- The editorial policy on inclusion, tone and corrections.
- How DataPacts is funded and what it never does.
- About DataPacts, an independent reference on AI training data.