Lawsuit Alleges Google's AI Threatens Content Creators by Promoting Misconduct, Undermining Publishers
In a significant development, the relationship between publishers and search engines is undergoing a transformation, largely due to the emergence of generative AI tools such as OpenAI's ChatGPT and Google's own Gemini.
This shift has not gone uncontested. Publishers and authors, including Penske Media - the parent company of Rolling Stone, Variety, Billboard, and other renowned publications - have filed lawsuits against AI giants like OpenAI, Perplexity, Anthropic, Microsoft, and Google. The crux of the matter is the use of high-quality human-made content without proper licensing, leading to profits being made from it.
Penske Media is not alone in its legal battle against Google. The Independent Publishers Alliance, a group of publishers based in London, is also engaged in a lawsuit against Google, alleging that the company is illegally using the content of publisher sites for AI-generated summaries at the top of Google search results, thereby damaging traffic and earnings.
The lawsuit claims that Google's actions are diverting readers away from publishers' own sites, depriving them of the ability to earn money from content created by their journalists. Penske argues that Google's actions have coerced publishers to acquiesce to the misappropriation of their content.
The outcome of the Penske lawsuit will likely have significant implications for publishers and AI companies, including Google. Earlier this month, Judge Amit Mehta issued a penalty finding against Google in the case, stating that the company must share some of its search data with competitors.
Google, however, has pushed back against the lawsuit, stating that AI Overviews send traffic to a greater diversity of sites. José Castañeda, a policy communications manager at Google, said that these AI Overviews provide a valuable service. Google also claims that AI sends "higher quality clicks" to sites, meaning those visitors stay on those sites longer with more engagement.
The ruling in the Penske lawsuit could dictate what is considered "transformative" work or lead to further regulatory pressure on Google. If Penske wins, platforms may need to negotiate licensing deals with publishers for the right to include summaries in search or overview features.
Robert Rosenberg, an intellectual property partner at Moses Singer, a New York-based firm, stated that the case highlights how dominant platforms can impose their own terms because of their scale. The US District Court for the District of Columbia ruled in 2024 that Google illegally protects its search monopoly, indicating a growing trend of regulatory scrutiny.
In addition to this, Ziff Davis, the parent company of this website, has also filed a lawsuit against OpenAI for copyright infringement. The legal battle between publishers and AI companies is far from over, and it promises to shape the future of the digital content landscape significantly.
