In order to keep up with the competition in the fierce AI battlefield, MetaAnnounceMeta AI will strengthen its ability to present real-time global news and events by entering into new partnerships with several international news publishers. In addition to further detailing its previous collaboration with News Corp, this new alliance expands to include leading media outlets in France, Spain, and Germany.
By introducing three major European media outlets, we strive to shed the label of "lagging behind in AI information."
According to information released by Meta, the latest media outlets to sign agreements include France's Le Figaro, Spain's Prisa media group, and Germany's Süddeutsche Zeitung. These new partners will work with News Corp, which operates several UK media outlets, to provide Meta AI with more timely information on world events.
This collaboration reflects Meta AI's current technological challenges. As Meta faces a tough battle in the AI race, its AI assistant has historically struggled to provide accurate and timely information. For example, in 2024, Meta AI couldn't even accurately answer seemingly simple questions like "Who is the Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives?"
Through extensive collaborations with publishers, Meta hopes to significantly equip itself and improve its ability to handle such queries (and even more complex ones).
Tens of millions of dollars in licensing fees, and a love-hate relationship with the media.
Although Meta has not disclosed the specific terms and amount of the contract, according to a previous report by the Wall Street Journal, the cooperation agreement with News Corp alone is worth as much as $5000 million per year.
In its update statement, Meta emphasized that these integrations will facilitate information access by providing article links, allowing users to visit partner websites for more details; at the same time, this will also bring value to partners, helping them reach new audiences.
However, Meta's relationship with news publishers has long been a tense one of "love-hate" dynamic. Meta used to spend heavily to attract publishers to produce "live videos" and "instant articles," but these plans eventually came to an abrupt end as Facebook shifted its focus and lowered the priority of news content.
Now, in order to advance AI development, Meta seems to have once again developed a strong interest in news content.
Analysis of viewpoints
Meta's major move highlights a common dilemma facing large language models (LLMs): the lack of a high-quality, timely copyright database.
While Meta promises to include news source links in its AI responses in an attempt to create a win-win situation, the actual benefits this will bring to publishers remain a huge unknown. A growing body of external data indicates that AI search tools are raising serious concerns, with questions raised about their actual impact on website traffic.
When users become accustomed to getting answers directly within chat windows, even with links, click-through rates will inevitably drop significantly. Traditional media, faced with hefty licensing fees from tech giants, are undoubtedly engaged in a tug-of-war between "short-term cash injections" and "long-term traffic loss."
