Penske Media, the owner of publications including Rolling Stone, Billboard and Variety, has sued Google in federal court in Washington, D.C. The company claims that the tech giant’s artificial intelligence (AI)-generated reports use journalistic material without consent and drive down traffic to its websites, News.Az reports citing the CNN.
The lawsuit marks the first time a major U.S. publisher has taken Google (owned by Alphabet) to court over AI-generated summaries that appear at the top of search results. News organizations have for months claimed that Google's new features, including "AI Overviews," are pulling traffic away from their sites, leading to a loss of advertising and subscription revenue.
Penske Media, a family-owned media conglomerate run by Jay Penske whose content attracts 120 million online visitors a month, alleges that Google includes publishers’ websites in its search results only if their articles are used in its AI summaries. Without that leverage, Penske argues, Google would have to pay publishers for the right to republish their work or use it to train its AI systems. The lawsuit notes that Google is able to impose such terms because of its dominant position in the search market, citing a federal court ruling last year that the tech giant has nearly 90% of the U.S. search market.
Penske Media stressed its responsibility to protect the future and integrity of digital media, arguing that these are under threat from Google's current actions. The company said that about 20% of Google searches linking to its sites now show "AI Overviews," a share that is expected to grow. According to its data, Penske Media's affiliate revenue has fallen by more than a third from its peak by the end of 2024 due to declining search traffic.
Google, for its part, claims that "AI Overviews" make search more useful and encourage its use by creating new opportunities for content discovery. The company intends to defend itself against what it considers unfounded claims.
