EU Commission is Investigating How Google Uses Online Content for AI Training

The European Commission announced today that it’s opening an antitrust investigation into Google’s use of web content, including YouTube videos, for AI training and features like AI Mode and AI Overviews in Search. The antitrust regulator wants to know if Google may be using this content without the consent of publishers, and if the company’s privileged access to online content may have distorted competition.

“The Commission will investigate to what extent the generation of AI Overviews and AI Mode by Google is based on web publishers’ content without appropriate compensation for that, and without the possibility for publishers to refuse without losing access to Google Search. Indeed, many publishers depend on Google Search for user traffic, and they do not want to risk losing access to it”, the regulator said today.

AI Mode in Google Search is now available in over 200 markets, including many European countries such as Germany, Spain, Portugal, Italy, Ireland, Belgium, and the UK. The feature offers a conversational search experience via a separate tab, but Google recently started testing the integration of this new AI Mode directly into the search results page.

It’s commonly believed that AI Mode and AI Overviews in search results will lead to decreased traffic for online publishers. That’s a problem if Google is using their content without their consent and/or doing so without proper compensation. The Commission sees a slightly different problem with YouTube, where content creators cannot deny Google the right to use their content for AI training. The EU regulator also pointed out that “rival developers of AI models are barred by YouTube policies from using YouTube content to train their own AI models.”

If the Commission determines that Google breached EU competition rules, the company could face fines of up to 10 percent of its global annual revenue. In a statement shared with Engadget, a Google spokesperson said that the investigation “risks stifling innovation in a market that is more competitive than ever. Europeans deserve to benefit from the latest technologies and we will continue to work closely with the news and creative industries as they transition to the AI era.”