Penske Media Corporation (PMC), which manages publications such as Rolling Stone, Variety, The Hollywood Reporter, and Billboard, has commenced legal proceedings against Google regarding one of its prominent AI functionalities. The lawsuit, submitted to federal district court in Washington DC on September 12, accuses Google of employing PMC’s content without authorization in its AI Overviews feature. AI Overviews are AI-generated synopses displayed at the top of Google’s search results, aggregating information from various websites and presenting summaries directly on Google’s platforms. News outlets have noted that these AI Overviews have contributed to a reduction in traffic, negatively impacting advertising and subscription income.

PMC asserts that the organization has experienced decreases in traffic and revenue due to around 20 percent of Google search results incorporating an AI Overview and a link to one of its publications. Jay Penske, PMC’s founder, chairman, and CEO, remarked that as a premier global publisher, PMC is obligated to safeguard its journalists and journalism and to advocate for the future of digital media, which is jeopardized by Google’s actions. The lawsuit additionally claims that Google coerces publishers into AI Overviews without their agreement, as these entities depend on Google’s web crawlers to catalog their sites for traffic.

Google has rebutted the lawsuit, claiming that AI Overviews are advantageous for publishers. Google Spokesperson Jose Castaneda noted that AI Overviews enhance Search usability and generate new chances for content discovery, and the company intends to contest these allegations. A recent study by the Pew Research Center corroborates some of PMC’s assertions, indicating that Google Search users are less inclined to click on links when AI Overviews are available. Merely 1 percent of users presented with AI Overviews clicked on a link to the original material. Nevertheless, Google criticized Pew’s methodology and disagreed with the conclusions of the study.

Google and various AI firms are encountering several lawsuits concerning content matters. Earlier this year, Edutech firm Chegg took legal action against Google over its AI summaries. In October of last year, News Corp’s Dow Jones and New York Post filed a lawsuit against Perplexity for AI “replicating” their content. A coalition of news organizations, including The New York Times, has also pursued legal action against OpenAI regarding copyright concerns.

Disclosure: Ziff Davis, the parent company of Mashable, initiated a lawsuit against OpenAI in April, alleging copyright infringement in the training and functioning of its AI systems.