Google’s controversial move to introduce AI-generated summaries into its search engine is ‘devastating’ to cash-strapped publishers and content creators who rely on traffic to generate vital revenue Prominent advocates have warned that it could be damaging.
Announced earlier this week at Google’s annual I/O conference, the “AI Overview” feature automatically generates answers to users’ complex queries, such as “how to fix a toilet,” and provides search results that match other web searches. Effectively demotes links to your site.
Daniel Coffee, CEO of the News Media Alliance, which heads a nonprofit representing more than 2,200 publishers including the Post, called Google’s plan “a perverse twist on innovation.” “This would have a devastating impact on our traffic,” he said.
“Google’s new products will help publishers invest in journalists, uncover and report on important issues, and further reduce the limited traffic they rely on to drive AI summarization in the first place. ” Coffee told the Post. “Accepting this fate with dominant monopolies creating the rules is offensive and potentially illegal.”
The changes could prompt increased regulatory and legal scrutiny of Google, which is already facing a landmark federal antitrust lawsuit targeting its alleged monopoly over more than 90% of the online search market.
Google also faces several legal battles over its ad tech practices, including a $2.3 billion lawsuit filed in February by media giant Axel Springer and 31 other publishers.
Both companies claim that they have suffered losses due to reduced market competitiveness, which is a direct result of Google’s misconduct.
Critics have also accused Google and OpenAI of using publisher content to “train” an AI chatbot without proper credit or compensation, and then using that chatbot to further erode their audience. I’m accusing them of being there.
The potential damage is not limited to media companies. Advocates for content creators say they face immediate existential threats as Google increases its reliance on AI within its search engine.
“The changes brought about by Google’s AI Overview could have a significant impact on revenue streams, potentially impacting billions of dollars in revenue for companies that currently rank highly in search results.” said Jeff Ragovin, CEO of ad tech company Semasio. statement.
Mark McCallum, chief innovation officer at creator media company Raptiv, said: “It’s clear that Google is wielding far too much power in the design of its search engine without limits.”
“We urgently appeal to Google, lawmakers, advertising, media, and digital technology companies to recognize the serious consequences of victimizing content creators to Big Tech and unfair AI practices.”McCallum he said.
The Post has reached out to Google for comment.
Google announced details of its AI plans for search just one day after its main competitor in the fast-growing technology, Microsoft-backed OpenAI, unveiled an upgraded chatbot that can talk to users in real time.
Google sought to allay media industry concerns about traffic loss in a blog post announcing the change.
The company also emphasized that simpler search queries, such as searches for specific companies or websites, will yield more traditional result sets.
“We see that links included in the AI overview receive more clicks than if the page were viewed as a traditional web listing for that query,” wrote Liz Reid, head of Google Search. Masu. “As we expand this experience, we remain focused on sending valuable traffic to publishers and creators.”
