Meta Platforms is reportedly working on an artificial intelligence (AI)-based search engine as it looks to reduce its dependence on Alphabet's Google and Microsoft's Bing, the Information reported on Monday. The Instagram owner currently relies on Google and Bing search engines to provide users with answers about news, stocks, and sports.
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Meta's Shift Towards Search Solutions
Meta’s web crawler will enable its chatbot, Meta AI, on WhatsApp, Instagram, and Facebook to deliver conversational answers to users regarding current events, the report said, citing a source involved with the strategy.
Google is also integrating its latest and most powerful AI model, Gemini, into core products like Search, aiming to deliver more conversational and intuitive search experiences. OpenAI leverages its major investor, Microsoft, for web access through the Bing search engine to answer topical queries.
However, scraping web data to train AI models and search engines has raised concerns regarding copyright infringement and the fair compensation of content creators.
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Strategic Partnership with Reuters
Last week, Meta Platforms announced that its AI chatbot would utilise Reuters content to answer user questions in real time about news and current events. This is the latest major tie-up between a big technology company and a news publication.
The companies did not disclose the financial details of the partnership. According to Reuters, the deal comes at a time when the Facebook parent has been reducing news content on its services following criticism from regulators and publishers over misinformation and disagreements about revenue sharing.
Meta AI, the company's chatbot, is available across its services, including Facebook, WhatsApp, and Instagram. However, Meta did not disclose its plans to use Reuters content to train its large language model.
Through its partnership with Reuters, "Meta AI can respond to news-related questions with summaries and links to Reuters content," a Meta spokesperson said, according to a Reuters report.
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Other companies, including ChatGPT maker OpenAI and Perplexity AI, have struck similar AI partnerships with news organisations.
