Meta has announced plans to integrate content from major news organizations into its artificial intelligence assistant, aiming to provide real-time information to users of Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp. The company stated that Meta AI will deliver breaking news, entertainment, and lifestyle stories in response to user inquiries, leveraging partnerships with outlets such as CNN, Fox News, Le Monde, People, and USA Today.
This new feature is designed to offer users access to a wider range of content sources and will include links to partner websites for deeper exploration of stories. Meta aims to enhance the responsiveness, accuracy, and balance of its AI assistant by incorporating diverse viewpoints, recognizing the challenges current AI systems face in keeping up with real-time events.
The initial partnerships include both mainstream and conservative-leaning publications, such as The Daily Caller and The Washington Examiner. Meta plans to expand these partnerships and develop new features as competition among technology firms intensifies.
Meta AI is available across the company’s platforms, serving billions of users worldwide. This announcement comes amid a trend where AI companies, including OpenAI and Google, are increasingly integrating live web content and news feeds into their services. OpenAI has established partnerships with various media organizations, while other companies like Perplexity have introduced subscription models to provide access to partnered media content.
Despite these collaborations, several lawsuits from media outlets against AI companies are ongoing, including a notable case from The New York Times against OpenAI for unauthorized use of its articles. Recently, The New York Times and the Chicago Tribune joined other publications in legal actions against Perplexity.
Meta’s relationship with the news media has been complex. In 2024, the company indicated that news constituted a small portion of user engagement on its platforms, leading to the shutdown of the Facebook News tab in several markets and the termination of multi-million-dollar deals with major news organizations. Additionally, CEO Mark Zuckerberg decided to end Meta’s U.S. fact-checking program, aligning more closely with certain political perspectives.
The AI news announcement followed a significant rise in Meta’s share price, attributed to reports of the company reducing its investments in virtual reality in favor of a stronger focus on artificial intelligence.
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