A federal court in Washington will hear the lawsuit filed by Penske Media against Google. The publisher claims that AI overviews in the search engine utilize journalistic texts without permission, thereby reducing its media outlets` revenues.
Penske Media, the parent company of influential magazines such as Rolling Stone, Billboard, and Variety, has initiated legal proceedings against Google. The company, owned by Jay Penske, asserts that the tech giant`s artificial intelligence leverages its journalistic content without explicit consent.
The core of the dispute revolves around «AI Overviews»—a search feature that displays concise, AI-generated answers prominently at the top of search results. This functionality allows users to quickly obtain information without needing to navigate to the original source website, consequently leading to a decline in traffic to these portals.
Similar AI-driven features are also employed by other search engines globally. Penske Media contends that Google`s use of its content without permission is unlawful.
The case is now slated for deliberation in a federal court in Washington, marking a significant legal challenge:
“This is the first instance of a major American publisher suing Google over AI-generated summaries. For several months, news companies have been reporting that the integration of neural networks into browsers is causing their website traffic to plummet, which in turn reduces advertising and subscription revenues. Jay Penske’s content is viewed by approximately 120 million users monthly. According to him, Google only includes sites in search results if it receives permission to use their content in its AI-generated summaries. Without this leverage, Google would have to pay publishers for the right to use their content to create summaries and train its artificial intelligence. Penske Media stated that about 20% of Google queries leading to its sites contain AI page summaries, and this proportion is projected to increase. Due to falling traffic, revenue from partner programs has already decreased by more than a third compared to its peak at the end of last year.”
Google has responded to Penske Media`s lawsuit by stating that «thanks to AI Overviews, people find search more useful and use it more often.» The company also claims that users who click on links suggested by AI spend more time on those websites. Furthermore, Google highlights that its AI provides links to sources for those who wish to delve deeper into the material.
Last year, a U.S. Federal Court determined that Google controls nearly 90% of the U.S. search market, officially recognizing the company as a monopolist in the search engine industry. The Justice Department had previously sought to compel Google to sell its Chrome browser to foster greater competition in the search sector.
However, Google successfully defended itself against the government`s demands in early September, meaning it will not be required to divest its browser. Nonetheless, a court ruling mandates that Google must share its search data with competitors for the next six years.
