Media giants launch EU-backed chatbot to fight disinformation

A group of major European media organisations has launched a chatbot aimed at combating online disinformation. 

The tool, called ChatEurope, responds to queries with information verified by journalists. It was set up by a consortium of media brands led by Agence France-Presse. Fourteen other news organisations, including France Médias Monde, Deutsche Welle, El País, and Romania’s RFI, have supported the project, which is also backed by the European Commission. 

The chatbot was designed by DRUID AI, a Romanian enterprise AI platform, and uses a language model developed by French startup Mistral. It’s hosted on infrastructure built by Paris-based open-source software provider XWiki.

Andreea Pleșea, co-founder and CEO of DRUID AI, said the tool enables “natural, human-like conversations” that help people access credible information in their own language. 

The tool works a bit like ChatGPT, but for verifiable news. You ask it a question — for instance, about EU climate ...