Facebook owner Meta has announced a groundbreaking multi-year partnership with Reuters that will enable its artificial intelligence chatbot to provide real-time news responses to user queries, marking the company's first significant news deal in the AI era.

Starting Friday, users of Meta's AI chatbot across Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp and Messenger in the United States will receive news updates and information sourced directly from Reuters, with responses including citations and links to Reuters coverage.

Jamie Radice, Meta spokesperson, explained the partnership's significance: "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."

The collaboration comes at a notable time, as Meta has previously scaled back news content on its platforms following regulatory scrutiny and disagreements with publishers over revenue sharing. While financial terms remain confidential, sources confirmed to Axios that Reuters will receive compensation for access to its journalism.

A Reuters spokesperson acknowledged 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."

The deal's scope regarding whether Reuters content can be used to train Meta's large language model, Llama, remains unclear. However, the partnership builds upon an existing relationship, as Reuters has served as a fact-checking partner for Meta since 2020.

Radice emphasised that while Meta AI is primarily used for creative tasks and how-to assistance, "this partnership will help ensure a more useful experience for those seeking information on current events."

The agreement represents a significant shift in Meta's approach to news content, following its decision to reduce political content in its feeds after the 2020 election and the termination of its News Tab partnerships, which had previously involved deals worth tens of millions of dollars with various publishers.

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