Google faces its first AI Overviews lawsuit from a major US publisher

Google faces a lawsuit from Penske Media, a major US publisher, over its AI Overviews feature. Penske claims that Google illegally uses content from its sites, including Rolling Stone, Variety, and Billboard, to power the AI Overviews feature, which is siphoning and discouraging user traffic to the publisher's websites, leading to a decline in revenue. The lawsuit, filed in Washington, DC's federal district court, alleges that about 20% of Google searches that link to one of Penske's sites now have AI Overviews, and this percentage is expected to continue increasing. Google spokesperson Jose Castaneda stated that the company will defend against these "meritless claims" and that AI Overviews send traffic to a greater diversity of sites. This lawsuit is the first time Google has faced legal action from a major US publisher regarding its AI search capabilities, and it comes amid other legal challenges facing AI companies, such as the New York Times' lawsuit against OpenAI and Anthropic's $1.5 billion settlement in a class action lawsuit.