You can now ask the Meta AI chatbot for news and get an answer based on the latest Reuters reporting without leaving Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp, or Messenger. Meta and Thompson Reuters have reached a deal to link the AI chatbot with Reuters content in an agreement that will see Reuters paid – an undisclosed amount – for its content.
Right now, the news responses will only appear to U.S. users. When you ask about news on topics that Reuters has reported on, you will get a short summary of the news and a direct link within the AI chatbot’s response to the relevant Reuters article.
Meta hasn’t made a deal with news providers since announcing plans to reduce the news content appearing on Facebook and its other social media platforms. In fact, Meta has made fighting against mandatory compensation of news companies its policy. That’s why Meta blocks all news content on Facebook and Instagram in Canada. Arguments over AI regulations are also why you won’t find Meta AI in the EU.
Reuters is widely considered a trustworthy news source, so Meta’s interest in adding its imprimatur to Meta AI’s answers about the news makes sense. Signing a deal that will compensate Reuters rather than just summarizing and linking to articles available without a paywall suggests Meta also wants to stay on the news service’s good side amidst a growing debate about how AI platforms use news articles to answer questions and train their models.
Other AI chatbots have made their own deals to access news sources. For instance, OpenAI inked a licensing deal with publishers, including The Wall Street Journal, The Atlantic, and the Meredith group of publications. At the same time, some major media organizations have been pushing back in court. The New York Times is in exactly that kind of legal dispute with OpenAI, claiming the ChatGPT creator infringed on its copyright by training AI models with its content without permission or compensation.
A news service is definitely a departure from the more entertainment-focused features Meta AI has highlighted until now. For instance, the celebrity voices highlighted at Meta Connect and the AI chatbots with personalities (that no longer have celebrity faces) were decidedly not about sharing real-world news.
Despite the contentious situation around news and AI platforms, the agreement with Reuters could boost the appeal of Meta AI to users looking for credible information on current affairs. As Meta AI faces plenty of competition in AI chatbots like ChatGPT, Google Gemini, Perplexity, and other AI platforms, Meta wouldn’t want this specific feature to be the thing that keeps potential users away.
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erichs211@gmail.com (Eric Hal Schwartz)
