Meta has announced an agreement with Reuters allowing its artificial intelligence to use Reuters content in response to news inquiries. According to Axios, this partnership is the first of its kind between Meta and a media outlet, spanning multiple years as part of a growing trend among media organizations to share their content with AI development companies.
Jami Radziwill, a Meta spokesperson, said: “We are always working to improve our products, and by partnering with Reuters, Meta AI will be able to respond to news-related questions with summaries and links to Reuters content.” She added that the partnership aims to provide a better experience for those seeking up-to-date information, although most users turn to AI for creative purposes or to explore new topics.
Heather Carpenter, a Reuters spokesperson, confirmed to The Verge: “We can confirm that Reuters has entered into partnerships with tech providers to license our fact-based news content to support their AI platforms, while the terms of these agreements remain confidential.”
Reuters will receive compensation for the use of its content in Meta’s AI chatbot, which is available across Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp, and Messenger, with links to Reuters stories beginning to appear for US users on Friday. Meta previously focused on AI features involving personalized interaction, such as celebrity chatbots, rather than current news, but Radziwill did not answer inquiries regarding the safety procedures in place for responding to news.
Over the past year, a number of news organizations, such as The Atlantic, The Wall Street Journal, and Dotdash Meredith, have struck licensing agreements with OpenAI. Nicholas Thompson, CEO of The Atlantic, said: “AI is coming, and fast, and we want to be part of any transition that happens. That transition might be good or it might be bad, but we think participating in it raises the chances that it’s good for journalism.”
On the other hand, The New York Times is engaged in a costly legal dispute against OpenAI and Microsoft, accusing the two companies of copyright infringement in developing their AI models.
Meta’s move toward integrating news into its AI chatbot is notable, especially given its public rejection of news content on its Threads platform, where executives stated the company “will not proactively amplify” hard news and political content, reflecting Meta’s desire to provide news to users in a controlled and organized manner.
Despite agreeing to pay for news now, Meta also continues to face laws requiring it to compensate publishers. In Canada, for example, users cannot access news via Facebook and Instagram due to Meta’s refusal to comply with a new law, choosing instead to block publishers’ accounts and links.
