By @jason_koebler
Publication Date: 2026-06-03 00:16:00
Google has quietly been offering to buy access to code written by developers who have released Android apps on the Play Store in order to help the company train its AI coding tools, 404 Media has learned.
Google has emailed some app developers with an offer to “join a confidential content offer pilot,” that will allow developers to “generate additional revenue from your apps,” according to an email sent to the developer of an Android app that has millions of downloads. Google’s email says that the company wants to buy access to developers’ codebases “to help improve Google’s developer tools and products.” 404 Media granted the developer anonymity because they feared retaliation from the company for sharing info about what was described as a “confidential” program.
“Get paid for sharing the code powering your apps, as well as your archived projects,” the email says. The email says that the developer would retain the intellectual property…
