Google will be required to give publishers greater control over how their content is used in Artificial Intelligence-generated search results after the Competition and Markets Authority announced a UK intervention aimed at re-balancing power between Big Tech and content creators. Publishers will be able to stop their content from being used in Artificial Intelligence features such as Artificial Intelligence Overviews without removing themselves from Google’s traditional search results. Google will also have to provide clearer attribution and links when publisher content appears in Artificial Intelligence-generated responses.
The regulator said the changes would give publishers effective controls over how their content is used and strengthen their ability to negotiate commercial agreements with Google as Artificial Intelligence reshapes the economics of online search. Google accounts for more than 90 per cent of UK search activity, according to the CMA, making it a critical source of traffic and revenue for news organisations and other online publishers. Media groups have argued that Artificial Intelligence-generated summaries keep users within Google’s ecosystem instead of directing them to the websites that produced the original reporting, analysis or information.
Sarah Cardell, chief executive of the CMA, said content publishers, including news organisations, need appropriate bargaining power over how their content is used. The regulator said publishers would also be able to opt out of allowing their content to be used to fine-tune Google’s Artificial Intelligence models. Google will be required to give publishers clearer information about how their content is used in generative Artificial Intelligence products, along with detailed metrics showing how Artificial Intelligence features affect user engagement.
Google said it is already testing new controls for website owners after discussions with regulators and will begin rolling them out to a group of UK publishers before expanding them globally. The tools will let website owners decide whether their content can appear in and help generate responses within Artificial Intelligence products such as Artificial Intelligence Overviews and Artificial Intelligence Mode. Google said websites that opt out would not receive traffic or impressions from those Artificial Intelligence features, although traditional search rankings would not be affected. The CMA has given Google nine months to implement the full package of changes, but said it expects key controls to be introduced sooner.
