Google’s bold new vision for the future of online search, powered by AI technology, is fueling an industry-wide backlash against fears it could damage the Internet’s open ecosystem.
At the center of the controversy are Google’s recently released “AI Overviews,” which are generated summaries that aim to directly answer search queries by pulling information from across the web.
AI overviews appear prominently at the top of results pages, which can limit users’ need to click through to publisher websites.
The move sparked legal action in France, where publishers filed cases accusing Google of violating intellectual property rights by ingesting their content to train AI models without permission.
A group of French publishers won a first court battle in April 2024. A judge ordered Google to negotiate fair compensation for reusing portions of its content.
US publishers are raising similar objections as Google’s new AI search overviews threaten to divert traffic away from sources. They argue that Google benefits unfairly from the content of others.
The debate highlights the need for updated frameworks governing online data use in the age of AI.
Editors’ Concerns
According to industry observers, the implications of general AI views could affect millions of independent creators who depend on referral traffic from Google Search.
Frank Pine, executive editor of MediaNews Group, explains The Washington Post:
“If journalists did this to each other, we would call it plagiarism.”
Pine’s company, which publishes the Denver Post and the Boston Herald, is among them plaintiff OpenAI for allegedly scraping copyrighted articles to train its language models.
Google’s revenue model has long been based on driving traffic to other websites and monetizing that flow through paid advertising channels.
AI overviews threaten to change this revenue model.
Kimber Matherne, who runs a food blog, is quoted in the publication’s article as saying:
“[Google’s] The goal is to make it as easy as possible for people to find the information they want. But if you remove the people who are the soul of creating that information, that’s a disservice to the world.”
According to the Post’s report, Raptive, an ad services company, estimates that the changes could result in $2 billion in lost revenue for online creators.
They also believe some websites could lose two-thirds of their search traffic.
Raptive CEO Michael Sanchez tells The Post:
“What was no longer a level playing field could tilt to where the open internet is starting to be in danger of surviving.”
Concerns of professionals in the sector
Google’s general descriptions of AI are understandably raising concerns among industry professionals, as expressed through numerous tweets criticizing the move.
Matt Gibbs questioned how Google developed the knowledge base for its AI, bluntly stating, “They ripped it away from the publishers who did the actual work to create the knowledge. Google are a bunch of thieves.”
From the top of Google’s “Generative AI in Search” article today.
How did they develop this knowledge base?
They ripped off the publishers who did the actual work to create the knowledge.
Google are a bunch of thieves. pic.twitter.com/SIkPqtWZwa
— Matt Gibbs (@ematt) May 14, 2024
In her tweet, Kristine Schachinger echoed similar sentiments, referring to Google’s AI responses as “a complete digital theft engine that will prevent sites from getting clicks.”
.@sundarpichai i @Google launch AI responses to #GoogleIO2024 also known as a complete digital theft engine that will prevent sites from getting clicks.
We need the government to step in now and push to bring the sun.
This is AN AI RESPONSE.
Click on it. pic.twitter.com/5NNtKAURxC
— Kristine (@schachin on threads) 🇺🇦 (@schachin) May 14, 2024
Gareth Boyd retweeted a quote from the Washington Post article highlighting the struggles of blogger Jake Boly, whose site recently saw a 96% drop in Google traffic.
Boyd said, “The precedent that OpenAI and Google are setting is scary…” and that “more people should be equally angry” at both companies for “open content theft.”
The precedent set by OpenAI and Google is scary… more people should be equally angry with OpenAI and Google for blatantly stealing content.
To be clear, I HATE regulation, but by the time AI is properly regulated, it will be too late.
— Gareth Boyd (@garethaboyd) May 15, 2024
In his tweet, Avram Piltch directly accused Google of theft, stating that “the data used to train their AI came from the same publishers who allowed Google to track them and will now be harmed. This is theft, simple and simple. And it’s a threat to the future of the network.”
Arguably, Google doesn’t “owe” publishers anything, but the data used to train its AI comes from the same publishers who allowed Google to track them and will now be harmed. This is theft, plain and simple. And it is a threat to the future of the network.
— Avram Piltch (@geekinchief) May 15, 2024
Lily Ray made a similar claim about Google: “Using all the content they pulled from the sites they Googled. With little to no attribution or traffic.”
Using all the content they pulled from the sites they Googled. With little or no attribution or traffic.
— Lily Ray 😏 (@lilyraynyc) May 14, 2024
Legal gray area
The controversy spills over into broader debates around intellectual property and fair use as AI systems are trained on unprecedented scales of data on the Internet.
Google argues that its models only ingest publicly available web data and that publishers previously profited from search traffic.
Publishers implicitly agree to have their content indexed by search engines unless they opt out.
However, the laws were not designed with training AI models in mind.
What is the way forward?
This debate highlights the need for new rules on how AI uses data online.
The way forward is unclear, but the stakes are high.
Some suggest revenue sharing or licensing fees when publisher content is used to train AI models. Others propose an opt-in system that gives website owners more control over how their content is used for AI training.
French rulings suggest that courts can intervene without explicit guidelines and good faith negotiations.
The web has always been about the balance between search engines and content creators. If this balance is broken without new safeguards, it could undermine the information sharing that makes the Internet so valuable.
Featured Image: Veroniksha/Shutterstock
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