Google hit by European publishers’ complaint to EU over its AI Overviews

By Foo Yun Chee

BRUSSELS, Feb 10 (Reuters) – Alphabet unit Google was hit with an EU antitrust complaint by the European Publishers Council on Tuesday over its AI-generated summaries known as AI Overviews, a move that could add weight to an ongoing EU investigation into the issue. 

Rivals have voiced concerns that Big Tech’s dominance in new technologies could shut them out while publishers have been critical of tech giants using their content without paying them.’

“It is about stopping a dominant gatekeeper from using its market power to take publishers’ content without consent, without fair compensation, and without giving publishers any realistic way to protect their journalism,” EPC chairman Christian Van Thillo said in a statement.

“AI Overviews and AI Mode fundamentally undermine the economic compact that has sustained the open web,” he said.

The EPC said that Google relies on its control of online search to secure access to content without payment, echoing similar EU antitrust concerns.

The Commission, in a statement kicking off its investigation in December, said Google may be abusing its market power as a search engine to impose unfair trading conditions on publishers.

Google did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

(Reporting by Foo Yun Chee; Editing by Kirsten Donovan)