Meta secures multi-year AI news deal with Reuters

Meta has entered a multi-year agreement with Reuters. This deal will enable its Meta AI chatbot to provide real-time answers...The post Meta secures multi-year AI news deal with Reuters appeared first on MEDIANAMA.

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Explainer Briefly Slides Meta has entered a multi-year agreement with Reuters. This deal will enable its Meta AI chatbot to provide real-time answers to user questions about news and current events, sources told Axios . Reportedly, Meta’s AI chatbot will leverage Reuters content to provide real-time answers to user questions on news and current events.

Meta’s chatbot, Meta AI, is accessible on Facebook, WhatsApp, and Instagram. However, it’s uncertain if Meta’s agreement includes licensing for training its large language model, Llama, with Reuters’ content. Neither Meta nor Thomson Reuters, Reuters’ parent company, shared financial details of the deal.



According to the Axios report, Reuters will receive compensation for its journalism under a multi-year agreement. A Meta spokesperson stated that the partnership allows “Meta AI to answer news-related questions with summaries and links to Reuters content.” Background This marks Meta’s first news-focused AI partnership.

The partnership comes as Meta has been reducing news content on its platforms. This decision follows criticism from regulators and publishers regarding misinformation and revenue-sharing disputes. Meta previously invested heavily in publisher deals for its now-defunct News Tab in 2019.

Meta cited declining interest in news among Facebook users as the reason for reducing news content, though regulatory pressures have also played a role. In Australia , Meta and Google were required to negotiate revenue-sharing with news publishers, leading Meta to briefly block news content before agreeing to a three-year deal in March 2021, set to expire in March 2024. In 2022 , the U.

S. introduced legislation to allow digital news organisations to negotiate fair terms with online platforms accessing their content. Back then, Meta had stated that deals with U.

S and U.K publishers had ended, and that it was winding down news content agreements in Australia, France, and Germany. It further said that it will not pursue new commercial agreements for traditional news content in these countries or create new Facebook products for news publishers there.

Reuters has had a fact-checking partnership with Meta since 2020. AI News Licensing Issues AI companies are facing mounting pressure to prevent misinformation, especially ahead of the U.S elections.

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