Meta Platforms has revealed its artificial intelligence (AI) chatbot will utilise content from Reuters to answer user queries about news and current events. This announcement is the company's first news deal in years, at a time when it has been reducing news content on its services due to regulatory and publisher criticism over misinformation and revenue-sharing disagreements.

"We can confirm that Reuters has partnered with tech providers to license our trusted, fact-based news content to power their AI platforms," a spokesperson for Reuters stated.

The financial details of the partnership between Meta Platforms and Thomson Reuters, the parent company of Reuters, have not been disclosed. However, sources told Axios, which first broke the news, that Reuters will be compensated for access to its journalism under a multi-year deal.

Meta's AI chatbot, available across its services including Facebook, WhatsApp, and Instagram, will now be able to respond to news-related questions from users with summaries and links to Reuters content, according to a Meta spokesperson.

"Meta AI can respond to news-related questions with summaries and links to Reuters content," the spokesperson said. However, it is not yet clear whether Meta plans to use Reuters content to train its large-language model. Reuters already has a fact-checking partnership with Meta, which began in 2020.

“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,” Meta spokesperson Jamie Radice said in an email to The Verge. “While most people use Meta AI for creative tasks, deep dives on new topics or how-to assistance, this partnership will help ensure a more useful experience for those seeking information on current events.”

Other companies, including OpenAI and Jeff Bezos-backed startup Perplexity, have also struck similar AI partnerships with news organisations including The Atlantic, The Wall Street Journey and The Verge parent company, Vox Media.