Amazon’s Alexa will use Reuters stories to answer questions

Reuters has struck a deal with Amazon where the voice service Alexa will use its news stories to answer questions.

To do so, Reuters is delivering Alexa more than 45,000 stories each month, produced by its 2,500 journalists in more than 200 locations around the world. Coverage will include a variety of topics including breaking news, politics, business, sports and entertainment.

Reuters’ API is ensuring delivery of the stories, while its extensive metadata enables the content to be easily identified and managed, providing a basis for further machine learning.

Reuters president Michael Friedenberg said: “We are delighted to be working with Amazon on this project. Reuters news covers the real world in real time, providing trusted intelligence that powers humans and machines to make informed decisions. This collaboration calls on that strength and also leverages the metadata and best-in-class API that make us an ideal partner for technology companies and voice services.”

The move follows the organizations’ collaboration in 2017 to use Reuters Now as a trusted news briefing program on Echo Show in the United States.

Chris Roush

Chris Roush was the dean of the School of Communications at Quinnipiac University in Hamden, Connecticut. He was previously Walter E. Hussman Sr. Distinguished Professor in business journalism at UNC-Chapel Hill. He is a former business journalist for Bloomberg News, Businessweek, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, The Tampa Tribune and the Sarasota Herald-Tribune. He is the author of the leading business reporting textbook "Show me the Money: Writing Business and Economics Stories for Mass Communication" and "Thinking Things Over," a biography of former Wall Street Journal editor Vermont Royster.