The Observer has signed a commercial partnership deal with AI-powered news platform Particle News as it ramps up its digital presence as a standalone brand.
Particle News is a personalised news product that summarises reporting from various publishers, optimised for its mobile app.
Its app launched in the US in November last year and is now available globally. Major publishers who already have partnerships with Particle include Time, The Los Angeles Times, Fortune and The Atlantic.
Other publishers whose links were being displayed yesterday alongside Particle’s AI summaries of major stories included Sky News, The Independent and Pink News. However Particle has described The Observer as its first UK partner.
Particle News produces an AI overview on a major story, alongside relevant links to publisher websites and a section highlighting quotes from the relevant players.
The Observer is joining the platform six months after launching it sown website under the new ownership of Tortoise Media, which bought the brand from Guardian News and Media.
[Read more: The Observer hires first chief commercial officer]
Observer journalism will now be included in Particle’s news overviews and users will be able to read its full pieces natively within the Particle app.
The Observer’s strategic partnerships director Alice Sandelson said: “This partnership demonstrates our commitment to finding innovative ways to bring Observer journalism to new digital audiences.
“The Particle team has built an innovative news product, and we are excited for readers to have more ways to access the Observer’s quality journalism across news, investigations, culture and style.”
The Observer has not yet announced any other deals with AI companies like OpenAI or Perplexity.
Particle’s co-founder and chief executive Sara Beykpour said: “Particle is committed to providing our users with the highest quality information by working with trusted publications, so we are grateful to have The Observer as our first UK partner.
“With The Observer, we are continuing to innovate news consumption, leveraging the power of AI in a way that works for publishers, journalists, and readers.”
Particle last year raised $10.9m in a Series A funding round that included investment from Politico and Business Insider owner Axel Springer.
Axel Springer’s deputy chairman and president of news media in the US Jan Bayer said at the time that Particle had an “ambitious vision for AI-powered news aggregation solutions in partnership with publishers.
“We believe that sustainable business models in news media must incorporate innovative solutions for AI to empower journalists, enhance audience experiences, and drive digital revenue, and we are proud to back teams building in this space.”
Research by the BBC and European Broadcasting Union has uncovered major issues around sourcing and accuracy with AI-generated answers to news-related questions on AI platforms ChatGPT, Gemini, Perplexity and Copilot. However Particle is not a chat-based product like the ones examined in the research.
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