Recently, Google has fully rolled out its new AI mode in the US, which has sparked strong opposition from news publishers. The News/Media Alliance, an industry association supported by some of America's largest news publishers, stated in a declaration that this new feature is depriving publishers of traffic and revenue. Google announced during its Google I/O event on Tuesday that the mode will be available to all American users. When users search, they will see AI-generated responses as well as a list of relevant links.
Danielle Coffey, CEO of the News/Media Alliance, stated in the declaration: "Links were once the last lifeline for search, providing publishers with traffic and revenue. However, now Google is acquiring content through force without offering any return, which is nothing short of theft." She called on the US Department of Justice to take measures to prevent one company from monopolizing the internet further.
In the antitrust trial against Google, internal documents show that Google decided not to seek permission from publishers to include their content in the AI search function. Instead, publishers must completely opt-out of search results if they do not want their works to appear in the AI feature. Liz Reid, head of Google Search, testified that allowing publishers to opt-out of individual features would add "enormous complexity." She explained: "If we let publishers choose 'I want to appear in this feature but not in that one,' it wouldn't work because then we'd need to build different models for every feature on the page."
As Google continues to roll out new technologies, the pressure and concerns in the media industry are increasing. Publishers expressed dissatisfaction with Google's approach, believing it seriously undermines their living space. Industry insiders pointed out that Google's actions may further exacerbate tensions between content creators and platforms, and how to strike a balance between technological innovation and protecting the rights of content creators will become an urgent issue to address in the future.
Key Points:
1. 📉 Google's new AI mode is accused of depriving publishers of traffic and revenue.
2. 🔗 The News/Media Alliance claims that Google's forced acquisition of content is defined as "theft".
3. ⚖️ Internal documents show that Google did not seek permission from publishers, who can only choose to completely opt-out of search results.