Meta signs AI content deals to boost its news-answering chatbot

Meta has entered into a series of AI data licensing agreements with major news outlets including USA Today, People Inc, CNN, Fox News, The Daily Caller, Washington Examiner and French daily Le Monde, as per reports.

The partnerships will enable Meta’s AI assistant to serve real-time news responses by linking directly to publisher articles and websites, as the tech giant tries to strengthen its AI products amid fierce competition in the sector.

“When users ask Meta AI for news, they will now receive updates and links sourced from a wider range of publishers — content that is current, relevant and tailored to individual interests,” the company said in a statement.

While terms of the agreements were not disclosed, both People Inc. and USA Today separately confirmed they had finalised commercial arrangements with Meta.

The deals come at a time when Meta is pushing harder to regain momentum in the artificial intelligence race. Its most recent release, the Llama 4 model, drew a tepid market response, even as Meta continues to spend heavily on AI and trims budgets in areas like the metaverse.

The broader environment is also shifting as platforms such as ChatGPT and Google’s Gemini increasingly incorporate live news feeds and real-time web content into their answers.

The move marks a notable strategic shift for Meta. The company has repeatedly de-emphasised traditional news distribution in recent years, shutting down the Facebook News tab in the United States, Britain and France, arguing that news formed only a tiny fraction of user engagement. That pivot ended several large newsroom funding deals and saw Meta exit its US fact-checking programme earlier this year.

Yet with AI emerging as tech’s next battleground, Meta appears once again willing to work with publishers to strengthen the informational capabilities of its chatbot.