Google’s AI-driven search feature, known as AI Mode, has faced criticism from the News/Media Alliance. On Wednesday, this US-based non-profit trade organization released an official statement denouncing AI Mode, labeling it as “the definition of theft.” This announcement followed closely after the Mountain View tech company revealed the rollout of AI Mode to all users in the US during its annual Google I/O event. Reports indicate that the company is also opposed to allowing publishers the option to opt out of AI Mode. News Publishers Urge US DOJ to Address Their Concern In the statement, Danielle Coffey, President and CEO of the News/Media Alliance, remarked, “Links were the last redeeming quality of search that provided publishers with traffic and revenue. Now Google simply appropriates content without compensation, which is the definition of theft.” Coffey further called on the US Department of Justice to address the association’s concerns to avert the “continued domination of the internet by one company.” The association also raised alarms regarding the AI Mode’s capability to provide users with information and answers to their inquiries without displaying the list of URLs typically found in traditional Google Search. This change could result in publishers losing both traffic and revenue.
Significantly, the News/Media Alliance, which advocates for prominent publishers including The New York Times, The Washington Post, Condé Nast, Vox Media, and others, has been a strong opponent of generative AI firms. On its AI Principles page, the organization stipulates that those who deploy generative AI technologies must honor the rights of creators regarding their content and maintain transparency with publishers. As reported by Bloomberg, Google contemplated a “hard red line” that would necessitate publishers wishing to appear in its conventional search rankings to also supply their content for training AI models. Referring to an internal document disclosed during Google’s antitrust trial, the report indicated that the company had opted to “silently update” its policy concerning the utilization of publisher data without any public announcement. Importantly, Google still commands nearly 90 percent of the search market, according to a Statista report. Consequently, publishers are unable to extricate themselves from its listings without incurring significant losses in traffic and revenue. Nevertheless, since the company has declined to grant publishers any authority over their content while they remain listed, AI Mode will present the information with minimal attribution and likely very little redirected traffic.
The News/Media Alliance emphasized this issue on its website, indicating that generative AI reveals and compiles significantly more proprietary content than conventional search methods. If left unregulated, this could hasten “the increasing trend towards zero-click, diminishing or potentially eradicating value for publishers.”