The EU is investigating Google for potentially unfair practices related to its AI-generated search summaries, focusing on publisher compensation and data use restrictions against competitors.

The European Commission announced an investigation into Google’s AI-generated search summaries to determine whether Google's use of publisher and creator data violates EU competition rules. The probe specifically examines whether Google adequately compensates content creators, including YouTube contributors, and whether it imposes restrictions on rival AI developers attempting to use YouTube content for training their AI models. Publishers claim that AI summaries reduce direct traffic to their sites, affecting ad revenues. Google countered that the investigation could hamper innovation in the dynamic AI market and pledged to cooperate with the creative sector. Advocacy groups argue that Google's practices break the fundamental internet content sharing agreement. This inquiry adds to a series of EU antitrust actions against Google, with potential fines of up to 10% of global revenue. The Commission clarified that opening the investigation is not a judgment of guilt.