The European Commission has launched a formal investigation whether Google has violated EU competition rules by using online content for artificial intelligence services without fair agreements with publishers and creators.
The inquiry will focus on Google’s practices relating to AI-powered features in its search engine, such as “AI Overviews” — automated summaries shown above traditional search results — and “AI Mode”, a chatbot-style search option, the Commission said in a statement on Tuesday.
It will examine whether these services rely on publishers’ content without suitable compensation, and whether publishers can refuse the use of their material without risking reduced access to traffic from Google Search.
A key point of concern is Google’s use of material uploaded to YouTube — the company’s video-sharing platform — to train its generative AI models, according to the Commission.
The investigation will look at whether content creators are not compensated for the use of their videos in AI training, and whether they are prevented from restricting such use without losing access to YouTube.
Under current YouTube policies, rival developers of AI systems are not allowed to use YouTube content to train their own models.
Competition officials in Brussels are considering whether these actions may amount to abuse of a dominant market position.
Google and the relevant authorities in EU member states have been officially notified about the investigation.
The opening of a formal antitrust investigation does not imply any conclusions about possible wrongdoing by Google, the Commission noted.
