Yet another deal has been signed between a publisher and a GenAI leader.
Paris startup Mistral and news outlet Agence France-Presse (AFP) announced today that they are combining their services to improve AI responses.
The deal provides Mistral’s chatbot — imaginatively named Le Chat — with access to all of AFP’s text stories.
According to Mistral, the integration will bring “enhanced factuality” to the AI assistant.
“Partnering with a globally trusted news agency like AFP allows Le Chat to offer reliable, factual, and up-to-date responses, verified by professional journalists,” said Arthur Mensch, the startup’s CEO and co-founder.
Mistral also highlighted the linguistic capabilities. AFP’s daily production of 2,300 text stories spans six languages — French, English, Spanish, Portuguese, German, and Arabic — all of which will be available to LeChat.
“Through this partnership, we are providing our clients with a unique multicultural and multilingual alternative,” Mensch said.
For AFP, the deal adds an extra income source and a new outlet for the agency’s 1,700 journalists.
“Through this partnership, AFP is further diversifying its revenue sources, reaching a clientele beyond the media sector and exploring new uses for its content in the daily operations of businesses,” said Fabrice Fries, the company’s CEO and chairman.
Deals and disputes between GenAI firms and news outlets
The content deal expands a growing range of agreements between publishers and GenAI companies.
Just a day earlier, two other eye-catching collaborations were announced. One brings news from the Associated Press (AP) to Google’s Geminis chatbot. The other merges Axios journalism with OpenAI products. As part of the deal, the ChatGPT-maker will fund the media brand’s expansion to four new US cities.
Axios joins a lengthy list of publishers collaborating with OpenAI. The GenAI giant has now partnered with nearly 20 media organisations, including the Financial Times, Le Monde, and AP.
Yet not every news outlet has been a willing collaborator. A group of them — led by The New York Times — took OpenAI to court this week over alleged copyright infringements.
They argue that OpenAI used their content to build systems without consent or payment. OpenAI contends that the “fair use” law protects the practice.
By signing agreements with publishers, GenAI firms could avoid such legal disputes.
For Mistral, the partnership with AP is the first content deal of this kind. The integration is slated to roll out to all Le Chat users in the coming weeks. Neither Mistral nor AFP have revealed the value of the multi-year contract.