Thomson Reuters unveils generative AI strategy designed to transform the future of professionals

Rhea-AI Summary

Thomson Reuters announces updates on its global investment strategy in generative AI, including an additional investment of over $100 million per year. The company plans to integrate generative AI skills through product development and acquisitions, leverage strategic partnerships, and upskill its global workforce on AI. Enhancements to the flagship product, Westlaw Precision, will be available to U.S. customers on Nov. 15.

• Additional investment of more than $100 million per year in generative AI
• Doubles down on build, buy, and partnership strategy outlined earlier this year, including the $650 million acquisition of Casetext
• Rolls out generative AI skills in flagship product, Westlaw Precision, available in the United States on Nov. 15
• Sets out AI upskilling for its 26,000-person global workforce with learning and development pathways

TORONTO, Nov. 1, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Thomson Reuters (NYSE/TSX: TRI), a global content and technology company, today announced updates on its multi-year global investment strategy in generative artificial intelligence (AI). These include integrating generative AI skills through product development and acquisitions, leveraging strategic partnerships, and ensuring that its global workforce is upskilled on AI. The strategy update coincides with generative AI enhancements to its flagship product, Westlaw Precision, that will be available to U.S. customers on Nov. 15. 

"AI will revolutionize and transform the future of work for professionals across the globe. Thomson Reuters is at the forefront of the AI movement, and we have demonstrated our commitment through the annual investment of more than $100 million in AI," said Steve Hasker, president and CEO, Thomson Reuters. "Professionals have our unwavering commitment and support as they safely navigate the opportunities and challenges provided by the evolving AI landscape. This is an exciting time as the Thomson Reuters team plans to expand, scale, and upskill at pace." 

Building AI-Powered Capabilities
Following the synergistic acquisition in August 2023, Thomson Reuters is committed to integrating Casetext with its proprietary solutions. Taking a "best of" approach across product development, Thomson Reuters will leverage Casetext to accelerate time to market, blend content with workflows, and expand beyond legal research to provide meaningful benefits to customers across its segments.

Enhancing its flagship product, Thomson Reuters is set to make a new generative AI skill available in Westlaw Precision later this month. Using the new skill named Westlaw Precision AI-Assisted Research, customers will be able to ask complex questions in conversational language and quickly receive synthesized answers. Leveraging innovation from CoCounsel, the new skill will draw from Thomson Reuters industry-leading, trusted content from across statutes, cases, and regulations to quickly resolve queries that used to take hours.

Generative AI skills in Westlaw Precision will be available to customers in the United States on November 15. Find more information here.

In addition, Practical Law customers will be able to benefit from generative AI in a new chat-type interface. Using the new Practical Law Answers, users will be able to submit queries in conversational language and quickly receive answers validated by trusted content created by more than 650 legal experts.

Generative AI skills in Practical Law Dynamic Tool Set are currently in beta and will be available to customers in the United States in January 2024. Find more information here.

"Our entire approach to generative AI starts with our customers, and the solutions we're announcing today bring together our strongest assets – our leadership in AI, our trusted content, and human expertise. Research that previously took hours can now be delivered in minutes, removing uncertainty, and delivering accurate outcomes, enabling our customers to focus their time where their expertise matters most," said David Wong, chief product officer, Thomson Reuters.

Strategic Acquisitions: Thomson Reuters continues to build on its strategy of pursuing acquisitions to accelerate generative AI capabilities. In August, the company completed its acquisition of Casetext, a company that uses advanced AI and machine learning to build technology for legal professionals. Through the integration of CoCounsel, its key product, Thomson Reuters will continue working to accelerate breakthroughs in generative AI, driving greater productivity, impact, and efficiency for legal customers.

To deliver value for tax professionals, Thomson Reuters completed its acquisition of SurePrep earlier in the year. SurePrep leverages AI and a consumer-grade, mobile-friendly design to help U.S. accounting firms bolster productivity and profitability. Integrating this acquisition also furthers the company's efforts to offer seamless, cloud-based workflow solutions to the professionals it serves.

Partnering for Success: As part of Thomson Reuters Ventures, an enterprise technology venture capital fund, the company recently invested in Neo.Tax. Integrated with ONESOURCE Income Tax, Neo.Tax uses AI to apply tax rules and requirements to claim research and development (R&D) expenses, avoiding a manual process that can take companies hundreds of hours, if not months, to complete. This is in addition to Truewind, which leverages generative AI to automate bookkeeping and financial modelling to empower small and mid-size businesses.

An additional collaboration includes Thomson Reuters working with Microsoft on a contract drafting solution for Microsoft 365 Copilot for Word. The plugin will help professionals unlock the potential of generative AI with legal content from Thomson Reuters products, easily surfacing content within Microsoft Word for faster initial drafting, and allowing users to use their expertise to edit, validate, and build the final document with integrated access to Thomson Reuters knowledge, content, and AI technology.

Intelligent Drafting is currently in beta and will be available to customers in the United States in the first half of 2024. Find more information here.

Upskilling Thomson Reuters Colleagues: Thomson Reuters is highly focused on investing in programs to enable learning and development for its 26,000 colleagues globally who use AI across every team. Based on the company's data and AI ethics principles, the company is delivering training and technology to increase colleagues' understanding of AI in a safe and an effective environment for application and learning, including AI learning pathways with specialized options for technologists and customer-facing sales teams. In addition, Thomson Reuters Labs created Open Arena, an enterprise-wide large language model (LLM) learning environment, which has helped unlock company-wide experimentation with generative AI. 

Note to editor:
Press availability with demos will be hosted on November 14. 
For more information, contact MediaRelations@thomsonreuters.com

Contact: 
Lindsay Bomar
Senior Director, Media and Operations, Thomson Reuters
Lindsay.Bomar@ThomsonReuters.com 

Thomson Reuters
Thomson Reuters (NYSE / TSX: TRI) ("TR") informs the way forward by bringing together the trusted content and technology that people and organizations need to make the right decisions. The company serves professionals across legal, tax, accounting, compliance, government, and media. Its products combine highly specialized software and insights to empower professionals with the data, intelligence, and solutions needed to make informed decisions, and to help institutions in their pursuit of justice, truth, and transparency. Reuters, part of Thomson Reuters, is a world leading provider of trusted journalism and news. For more information, visit tr.com.

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FAQ

What is the focus of Thomson Reuters' investment strategy in generative AI?

Thomson Reuters' investment strategy in generative AI focuses on integrating generative AI skills through product development and acquisitions, leveraging strategic partnerships, and upskilling the global workforce on AI.

When will the enhancements to Westlaw Precision be available to U.S. customers?

The enhancements to Westlaw Precision will be available to U.S. customers on November 15.

What is the purpose of the acquisition of Casetext?

The acquisition of Casetext is aimed at accelerating breakthroughs in generative AI, driving greater productivity, impact, and efficiency for legal customers.

What is the acquisition of SurePrep focused on?

The acquisition of SurePrep is focused on delivering value for tax professionals and offering seamless, cloud-based workflow solutions.

Which company did Thomson Reuters recently invest in as part of Thomson Reuters Ventures?

Thomson Reuters recently invested in Neo.Tax, a company that uses AI to apply tax rules and requirements to claim research and development (R&D) expenses.

What is the purpose of the collaboration between Thomson Reuters and Microsoft?

The collaboration between Thomson Reuters and Microsoft aims to develop a contract drafting solution for Microsoft 365 Copilot for Word, integrating legal content from Thomson Reuters products.

What initiatives is Thomson Reuters undertaking to upskill its colleagues?

Thomson Reuters is investing in programs to enable learning and development for its 26,000 colleagues globally, including AI learning pathways and specialized options for technologists and customer-facing sales teams.