France’s competition watchdog on Wednesday fined Alphabet Inc.’s Google $271.7 million for violations related to EU intellectual property rules in its relationship with media publishers, citing concerns about the company’s AI services. It was announced that.
The watchdog group said Google’s AI-powered chatbot Bard (since renamed Gemini) was trained without notice using content from publishers and news agencies. Stated.
Google has promised not to dispute the facts as part of the settlement process, the watchdog said, adding that the company is also proposing a range of remedies for certain deficiencies.
Google said it accepted the settlement “because it’s time to move forward,” adding that it “looks forward to working constructively with French publishers and focusing on our larger goals: a sustainable approach to connecting people with quality content.” .
The company said the fine was disproportionate and did not take into account the watchdog’s efforts “in an environment where it is very difficult to determine direction because we cannot predict which way the wind will blow next.” .
The fine is related to a copyright dispute in France over online content sparked by complaints from some of the country’s biggest news organizations, including Agence France-Presse (AFP).
The dispute appeared to be resolved in 2022 when major technology companies withdrew their appeals against the 500 million euro fines that were initially imposed following a major court investigation.
But the watchdog said in a statement Wednesday that Google had violated four of the seven promises it agreed to in the settlement, including negotiating in good faith with publishers and providing transparent information. .
The watchdog specifically singled out Google’s AI chatbot Bird, launched in 2023, saying it was trained on data from unspecified media and news agencies without notifying the company or regulators. Ta.
“Google then tied the use of that content by its artificial intelligence services to the display of protected content,” the watchdog group said, thereby reducing the ability of publishers and news organizations to negotiate fair prices. Google added that it was blocked.
The fines come as many publishers, writers, and newsrooms seek to restrict the scraping of online content, or the automatic collection of data, by AI services without the consent of fair remuneration. .
In 2023, the New York Times accused Google rival Microsoft and OpenAI, the developer of the popular artificial intelligence platform ChatGPT, of using millions of newspaper articles without permission to help train chatbots. I filed a complaint.
“We, and others, need to be more clear about who we are paying for and who we are paying for.” google said.
