Google's early attempt to pay websites for AI answers is struggling. Publishers in the test agree that certain niche topics like anime and gaming earn more, but tracking payments in the search console is confusing. It's unclear what counts as a meaningful contribution to an AI answer, making future earnings impossible to plan.
A shifting landscape: if websites stop publishing or block Google, AI search quality will decline. The AI contribution pilot is a step toward forging a new relationship, but small payments and unclear AI contributions could make expanding the program difficult. Ill will is growing.
Some publishers are fighting back. A coalition of book publishers has sued over Google's alleged use of copyrighted content in AI training. Penske Media, which operates sites like Variety and Rolling Stone, has sued over lost traffic, saying Google's decision to tie AI scraping to standard web indexing is unfair.
Regulators are taking notice. The UK government ordered Google to provide an AI opt-out. The European Commission is running an antitrust probe to determine if Google is fairly compensating publishers. Given Google's track record in the EU, it seems unlikely to work out in Google's favor.
Source: Ars Technica · Summarized by HeadlinesBriefing