Meta’s AI chatbot will now use Reuters reporting to avail real-time answers to news-related queries, thanks to a multi-year partnership agreement with the news agency. The AI assistant will now cite Reuters articles and offer direct links to their reporting. Meta will also remunerate the news agency for its contributions.

Meta partners with Reuters to improve its AI-chatbot responses to news queries

According to Axios, Meta has signed a multi-year deal with Reuters, an international news provider, to enhance its chatbot response delivery to news-based questions. Starting this Friday, the chatbot’s users can now access real-time information based on Reuters reporting and even earn direct access to their articles. Meta will also pay Reuters for any content appearing in its chatbot responses.

Meta’s spokesperson, Jamie Radice, remarked:

We’re always iterating and working to improve our products, and through Meta’s partnership with Reuters, Meta AI can respond to news-related questions with summaries and links to Reuters content.

~Jamie Radice

She added that despite the fact that most users use their chatbot to brainstorm or for creative purposes, this partnership will serve multiple consumers who would like to follow up on current events.

Another Meta spokesperson, Heather Carpenter, added that while they can confirm their partnership with the news agency, the deal’s details remain confidential. 

Other chatbots have also been collaborating with multiple news sources

Aside from Meta’s latest deal with Reuters, Open AI has signed multiple agreements with The Atlantic, The Wall Street Journal, and Dotdash Meredith Group.

Concerning their deal with Open AI, Atlantic’s CEO, Nicholas Thompson, welcomed the change, believing that their transition to AI projects may be good for journalism and his agency.

However, the New York Times filed a lawsuit against OpenAI and Microsoft, claiming copyright infringement. The news outlet argues the two corporations developed their AI models by copying millions of its articles and now, in turn, ‘directly complete’ with its content. 

The news source also claimed that the chatbots mimicked its writing style, which it claims destroyed its relationship with some readers and deprived it of meaningful revenue.

While Meta’s chatbot has joined Open AI in collaborating with news sources and agreed to pay for all news contributions, its parent company continues to challenge laws in various regions that mandate payments to news publishers for their content on social media.

In Canada, Meta blocked all news content on Facebook and Instagram in response to the country’s Online News Act, which would obligate tech firms to negotiate with and pay publishers for their news content.