The European Commission has launched an investigation into whether Google has breached EU competition rules by using web publishers’ content for AI purposes without appropriate compensation.
CNBC reports that the EU has launched an antitrust investigation into Google’s use of online publishers’ content for AI purposes. The probe, announced by the European Commission on Tuesday, aims to determine whether the search giant has distorted competition by imposing unfair terms and conditions on publishers and content creators or by granting itself privileged access to their content while placing developers of rival AI models at a disadvantage.
According to the Commission, the investigation will focus on the extent to which Google’s AI Overviews and AI Mode is based on web publishers’ content without appropriate compensation and without the possibility for publishers to refuse without losing access to Google Search. The probe will also examine whether Google’s practices have placed rival AI model developers at a disadvantage, potentially stifling innovation in an increasingly competitive market.
Commissioner for Competition Teresa Ribera emphasized the importance of ensuring that the progress brought about by AI does not come at the expense of the principles at the heart of European societies. “This is why we are investigating whether Google may have imposed unfair terms and conditions on publishers and content creators, while placing rival AI models developers at a disadvantage, in breach of EU competition rules,” Ribera stated.
In response to the investigation, a Google spokesperson told CNBC that the complaint risks stifling innovation in a market that is more competitive than ever. The spokesperson added that Europeans deserve to benefit from the latest technologies and that Google will continue to work closely with the news and creative industries as they transition to the AI era.
Breitbart News previously reported that online education company Chegg has filed a lawsuit against Google claiming that its AI tools are killing traffic to the company’s educational sites:
Chegg President and CEO Nathan Schultz argues that Google’s monopoly power forces companies like Chegg to supply their proprietary content to be included in search results, while the search giant reaps the financial benefits without investing in the content creation process. Despite the lawsuit, Chegg has its own AI strategy, leveraging open-source models from Meta, as well as models from Anthropic and Mistral. The company also has a partnership with OpenAI, which it views as a competitor alongside Google.
Google’s AI Overviews, available in over 100 countries and used by more than 1 billion users, appear above links to other pages in search results. Chegg claimed that Google used its collection of 135 million questions and answers across various subjects to train its AI models. The complaint included a screenshot of a Google AI Overview that borrows information from Chegg’s website without proper attribution, although the relevant Chegg page does appear lower in the search results.
Google has also faced multiple antitrust lawsuits led the American government. As Breitbart News reported in September, the case focused on Google Search came out as a best case scenario for Big Tech:
Under the ruling, Google must share some of its online search data with rivals and end exclusive distribution contracts designed to force devicemakers to bundle Google apps together. However, it avoided the forced divestiture of key assets like the Chrome browser, which the judge said the government “overreached” in seeking. The emergence of generative AI played a role in the case, with Judge Mehta acknowledging it represents a long-term threat to the search industry as chatbots and other AI technologies advance.
Google praised the decision for recognizing AI’s impact on the search landscape, though it expressed concerns about the privacy implications of the mandated data-sharing requirements. Shares of Google’s parent company Alphabet surged more than eight percent in morning trading following the release of the ruling.
Read more at CNBC here.
Lucas Nolan is a reporter for Breitbart News covering issues of free speech and online censorship.
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