Google defends AI search summaries in Rolling Stone publisher's lawsuit
Google is defending its AI search summaries against a lawsuit by Penske Media Corp, arguing the suit is legally flawed.Summary
Google and its parent company, Alphabet, have dismissed a lawsuit filed by Penske Media Corp (PMC), the publisher of Rolling Stone, Billboard, and Variety, as “legally defective in every way.” The lawsuit alleges that Google’s AI-generated search summaries are eroding traffic to media companies’ websites. PMC claims Google is violating antitrust law by requiring publishers to allow these AI overviews if they want their content indexed in Google Search. Google argues that it has no obligation to index content on publishers’ terms and that publishers can block indexing altogether. The company also stated that its AI overviews still direct users to the original publishers' pages. A separate lawsuit against Google over its AI overviews has also been filed by online education company Chegg. Google is currently facing additional antitrust lawsuits from the U.S. government regarding its search and advertising practices, as well as suits from other media publishers concerning its advertising business.
(Source：The Economic Times)