British media will be able to prevent their content from feeding Google's AI search
The British regulator CMA said in a statement that its decision will put publishers, particularly news organizations, "in a more favorable position to negotiate content deals with Google."
Google offices around the world (Archive)
Britain's competition regulator said Wednesday that website owners, including media outlets, have the right to prevent their content from feeding Google's artificial intelligence (AI) search.
Digital content publishers, particularly news outlets, complain that AI models use their content without compensating them financially.
In addition, AI-generated summaries when searching for some content on Google decrease Internet users' visits to their web pages and, consequently, cut their advertising revenue.
The UK regulator CMA said in a statement that its decision will put publishers, particularly news organizations, "in a more favorable position to negotiate content deals with Google."
Currently, Google structures AI search in two main formats: "AI-created views," which generates at the top of results synthetic answers, and "AI mode," a search using a conversational bot not available in all countries.
To produce this summary, the Californian giant's AI draws on content from websites, especially media outlets, which accuse it of plundering their work without remuneration.
In a blog post, Google Search ecosystem head Mrinalini Loew said Wednesday that they began testing a new control that allows digital publishers to decide whether they want their site to appear and contribute to sustain responses.
But sites that opt out will not receive traffic or impressions from these features, it warned.
90% of digital searches in the country are conducted through Google
This subjects it to stricter rules than its competitors in the UK.
According to the CMA, 90% of digital searches in the country are conducted through Google and more than 200,000 British businesses advertise on the platform.
LATEST
