AFP strikes deal for Frances Mistral AI to use news articles [Video]

Global news agency Agence France-Presse (AFP) and French artificial intelligence company Mistral AI have signed a deal for the start-up’s chatbot to use news agency reports to respond to users’ requests, executives from the two organisations said Thursday.

The parties did not reveal the value of the “multi-year” contract nor its precise duration.

It was the first such deal struck by AFP and for Mistral AI, a European competitor to American giants like ChatGPT creator OpenAI.

Tie-ups between news organisations and AI developers remain relatively rare worldwide, despite a pick-up in activity last year.

OpenAI has struck the most deals, including with British business daily the Financial Times, French centre-left paper Le Monde and Germany’s Axel Springer group, which publishes conservative broadsheet Die Welt and tabloid-style Bild.

“This is the first deal between two players with global ambitions, indeed a global footprint as far as AFP is concerned, but with …