Oct 28 (Reuters) - Meta Platforms ( META ) is working on

an artificial intelligence-based search engine as it looks to

reduce dependence on Alphabet's Google and Microsoft's ( MSFT )

Bing, the Information reported on Monday.

The AI search engine segment is heating up with

ChatGPT-maker OpenAI, Google and Microsoft ( MSFT ) all vying for

dominance in the rapidly evolving market.

Meta's web crawler will provide conversational answers to

users about current events on Meta AI, the company's chatbot on

WhatsApp, Instagram and Facebook, according to the report, which

cited a person involved with the strategy.

The Facebook-owner currently relies on Google and Bing

search engines to give users answers on news, stocks and sports.

Meta did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for

comment.

Google is aggressively integrating its latest and most

powerful AI model, Gemini, into core products like Search,

aiming to deliver more conversational and intuitive search

experiences.

OpenAI relies on its largest investor, Microsoft ( MSFT ), for web

access to answer topical queries, using its Bing search engine.

Scraping web data to train AI models and search engines,

however, has raised concerns about copyright infringement and

fair compensation for content creators.

Meta said last week its AI chatbot will use Reuters content

to answer user questions in real time about news and current

events.