Google AI Search Criticized by News Publishers Over Concerns About Content Revenue

Google's newest artificial intelligence-powered search results feature is reportedly being slammed by several news publishers due to its potential impact on news content monetization. The new feature will favor giving users AI summaries over website links when searching Google.

As Google pushed to further satisfy user requests, Danielle Coffey, the chief executive of the News/Media Alliance, reportedly told CNN that the new feature would be disastrous for their traffic, leaving even less reason to click through so that news publishers may monetize their content.

Coffey reportedly added that the little traffic they receive will be further reduced. Additionally, with a dominant search engine solidifying its market power, Coffey's organization, representing more than 2,000 news publishers, has taken an aggressive stance toward AI developers' use of journalism.

They state they once again have to abide by Google's terms with a product that directly contends with news content, using their own content to fuel it. Coffey describes this situation as a "perverse twist on innovation."

Google's AI Summaries

Google revealed on Tuesday that it will integrate its potent artificial intelligence model, Gemini, into its widely used search engine.

AI summaries are meant to appear only when Google's technology determines that doing so will be the quickest and most effective way to grab a user's attention.

This is most likely to happen when people think or strategize, or when they debate challenging subjects. People will likely continue to see Google's usual website links and adverts when they search for things like store recommendations or weather forecasts.

OpenAI vs. the New York Times

Certain newsrooms have made the strategic decision to work closely with the internet behemoths, negotiating agreements with OpenAI to license their extensive content archives.

Some, like The New York Times, have chosen a very different course, filing a lawsuit against the founder of ChatGPT.

The face of the AI revolution, OpenAI, recently retaliated against the New York Times in a court case involving copyright violation claims.

The well-known journal has been accused by the tech giant of employing misleading methods, such as "hacking," to support its claims against OpenAI.

OpenAI took a daring step in response to a lawsuit that the New York Times filed in December 2023, asking a federal judge to dismiss some aspects of the case.

OpenAI accuses the Times of acting unethically by tricking its AI systems into fabricating proof, especially its chatbot ChatGPT.

The New York Times, in violation of OpenAI's terms of service, allegedly employed misleading prompts, which led to the technology replicating NYT content. OpenAI emphasizes the seriousness of the matter by claiming that the Times hired someone to compromise its products.

The case's heart is allegations that the corporations utilized millions of New York Times stories without permission. It also names Microsoft as a significant OpenAI sponsor.

According to the New York Times, Microsoft and OpenAI exploited its content-including ChatGPT and Copilot-to train AI models without authorization.

(Photo: Tech Times)