(Photo : Meta)

• Meta Platforms and Reuters have partnered to use Reuters' content for Meta's AI chatbot to answer real-time news queries.
• This is Meta's first news deal in years, and the financial details remain undisclosed.
• Reuters will be compensated for access to its journalism under a multi-year deal.
• This partnership highlights the growing trend of tech companies leveraging trusted news content to power their AI platforms.

In a significant development in the world of artificial intelligence (AI) and news publishing, Meta Platforms, the parent company of Facebook, has announced a partnership with Reuters. This collaboration will see Meta's AI chatbot utilizing Reuters' content to answer user queries about news and current events in real time. This marks a significant AI collaboration between a major technology company and a news publisher.

The financial details of this partnership remain undisclosed by both Meta and Reuters-parent Thomson Reuters. However, this arrangement is noteworthy as it is Meta's first news deal in years. The timing of this partnership is particularly interesting, given that Meta has been reducing news content on its platforms following criticism from regulators and publishers over misinformation and disagreements about revenue-sharing.

Meta's AI chatbot, known as Meta AI, is available across its services, including Facebook, WhatsApp, and Instagram. However, the company has not disclosed whether it plans to use Reuters' content to train its large-language model. This partnership is a testament to the growing trend of tech companies partnering with news organizations to leverage their AI platforms.

AI Partnerships: The New Norm in Journalism

A spokesperson for Reuters confirmed the partnership, stating, We can confirm that Reuters has partnered with tech providers to license our trusted, fact-based news content to power their AI platforms. The terms of these deals remain confidential. This statement underscores the value of Reuters' trusted and fact-based news content in the AI landscape.

As part of the agreement, Reuters will be compensated for access to its journalism under a multi-year deal. This information was first published by Axios, highlighting the value of Reuters' journalism in the AI-driven news landscape. A Meta spokesperson further elaborated on the partnership, stating that Meta AI can respond to news-related questions with summaries and links to Reuters content.

This partnership is not an isolated incident. Other companies, including ChatGPT-maker OpenAI and Jeff Bezos-backed startup Perplexity, have also struck similar AI partnerships with news organizations. This trend underscores the growing intersection of AI and journalism, with tech companies increasingly leveraging news content to power their AI platforms.

The Impact of AI on Social Media and News Consumption

Interestingly, Reuters already has a fact-checking partnership with Meta, which began in 2020. This existing relationship likely played a role in facilitating the current partnership, further highlighting the growing synergy between tech companies and news organizations.

The partnership comes at a time when social media platforms are experiencing a decline in referral traffic from news sites. According to a report from Chartbeat, traffic to news sites from Facebook fell 48% in 2023, with traffic from Twitter declining by 27%. In response to these developments, around 77% of publishers are focusing more on their direct channels, with 22% resorting to cutting costs and a similar proportion experimenting with alternative third-party platforms.

This partnership also coincides with Meta's decision to open up broadcast channels for publishers on WhatsApp and Instagram. This move has led to publishers putting more effort into these platforms, with a net score of +61 for WhatsApp and +39 for Instagram. This trend is in stark contrast to the worsening sentiment towards Facebook and Twitter, which have net scores of -38 and -39, respectively.