Google’s AI search mode slammed as ‘theft’ by some news publishers, here's why

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As Google pushes forward with its AI advancements, a wave of backlash is emerging from US news publishers. The News/Media Alliance, a trade group representing over 2,000 news outlets, has condemned Google for misusing its content and depriving them of both traffic and revenue. At the heart of the controversy is Google’s newly announced AI Mode feature, which provides AI-generated responses alongside traditional search results in a simplified interface.

During Google’s I/O developer conference event recently, the company confirmed that AI Mode is now available to all U.S. users, allowing them to interact with Google Search as if it were a chatbot by asking complex queries and follow-up questions, and getting full responses in return, without the need to click on traditional links.

However, Danielle Coffey, CEO of the News/Media Alliance, slammed this approach, saying, "Links were the last redeeming quality of search that gave publishers traffic and revenue." She further added that “now Google just takes content by force and uses it with no return, the definition of theft.” The group is also urging US regulators, particularly the Department of Justice (DoJ), to intervene.

In response, Google Search head Liz Reid claimed it’s technically too complicated to let publishers pick and choose which features they appear in. Many publishers have expressed frustration over Google’s lack of transparency, as with the growing usage of AI, news outlets are being further pushed out of the online ecosystem.