Microsoft is currently in discussion with media start-up Semafor to help develop news stories with its AI chatbot.
According to people familiar with the deal, Microsoft is paying an undisclosed sum to the media group to sponsor a breaking news feed called "Signals."
Semafor clarified that the chatbot will only be used as a research tool to inform posts with human journalists still writing the actual article.
The "Signals" initiative is expected to publish at least a dozen posts of breaking news and analysis each day. The Financial Times first reported the deal.
Reports of the deal came as Microsoft is facing a copyright trial from the New York Times for supposedly using its licensed contents to train its AI models without permission.
Copyright Lawsuits Loom Over Microsoft Media Deals
Despite gaining a foothold in the media industry, Microsoft's AI venture remains under fire following wide scrutiny of the development and testing of its chatbot models.
Microsoft and OpenAI, a company which the tech giant has invested a lot of money into, are facing several lawsuits from publishers and authors for copyright breaches.
According to the New York Times case, the companies' biggest complainant to date, the AI firms took a "free ride" on millions of its articles to build its chatbots, including the Copilot AI.
The New York Times is seeking billions of dollars for damages.
News publications have been the frequent target for AI firms' web crawlers.
OpenAI Opens Deals Towards Licensed AI Training
This was also not the first instance an AI firm took steps to guarantee news articles into their AI training.
For the past months, OpenAI has been making deals with several media companies and institutions to legally allow the firm to use its licensed content for AI training.
Microsoft has also started negotiations with media groups, including a collaboration with the Craig Newmark School of Journalism, the Online News Association and the GroundTruth Project.
Both Microsoft and OpenAI have also increased lobbying efforts to lessen regulators' power over their AI ventures as the companies seek to improve their products.
