Google Wins Dismissal of Lawsuit Over AI-Generated Search Answers
A federal judge has dismissed a lawsuit against Google filed by technology company Chegg and publisher Penske Media Group, which accused the search engine giant of using publisher content to train its artificial intelligence programs without compensation.
The plaintiffs alleged that Google's use of their information for AI-generated search answers deprived them of search referral traffic and advertising revenue. However, U.S. District Judge Amit Mehta ruled that the companies had not established a requirement for Google to provide traffic to their websites in exchange for using their content.
Penske Media Group owns popular entertainment trade publications such as Variety, Billboard, Deadline Hollywood, and the Hollywood Reporter. The company argued that Google's dominance in search allowed it to effectively require publishers to allow their content to appear in AI Overviews if they wanted to remain indexed in traditional search results.