{"id":713777,"date":"2026-06-04T01:55:14","date_gmt":"2026-06-04T01:55:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/713777\/"},"modified":"2026-06-04T01:55:14","modified_gmt":"2026-06-04T01:55:14","slug":"what-do-uk-watchdogs-new-rules-on-google-ai-results-mean-for-publishers-ai-artificial-intelligence","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/713777\/","title":{"rendered":"What do UK watchdog\u2019s new rules on Google AI results mean for publishers? | AI (artificial intelligence)"},"content":{"rendered":"

The UK\u2019s competition watchdog has ordered Google to change how it uses publishers\u2019 content<\/a> in its AI-powered search results, in a move that will have global ramifications.<\/p>\n

The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) is using powers that allow it to set bespoke rules for major tech firms<\/a> that it deems to have \u201cstrategic market status\u201d. Google, the world\u2019s largest search engine, is one of those companies.<\/p>\n

What has the CMA announced? <\/p>\n

The CMA has imposed a set of \u201cconduct requirements\u201d on Google, which the tech firm must adhere to. It must allow publishers to block Google from using their content to power features such as AI Overviews and AI mode (an expanded version of Overviews).<\/p>\n

An AI Overview is an answer to a query, produced by the search engine\u2019s Gemini AI model, that summarises material from news publishers and other websites to produce an answer. Publishers do not like this, arguing that it dissuades users from clicking through to their content \u2013 thus denying them readers and advertising revenue. Under the current setup, news publishers that allow their content to be listed in ordinary Google search results are defaulted into AI Overview responses as well. Now they will now be able to opt out from appearing in such responses.<\/p>\n

Google will also be required to make sure that publisher content is properly flagged and attributed in overview results, using clear links to the material. FIt must also allow publishers to opt out of their content being used to update models (the underlying technology that powers tools such as chatbots).<\/p>\n

How will it affect publishers?<\/p>\n

The CMA hopes this will give publishers greater leverage in content deals with Google, by forcing the company to seek permission to use their intellectual property. The CMA will wait to see how its first wave of interventions pan out before it decides whether to act further. This announcement at least signals a direction of travel.<\/p>\n

Publishers have seen dramatic falls in Google traffic to their websites since their content was pulled into AI summaries. Photograph: Samuel Boivin\/NurPhoto\/ShutterstockDoes this pave the way for publishers to make money from AI firms using their content?<\/p>\n

There is still a long way to go. A mass boycott of AI Overviews by publishers, in an attempt to force Google\u2019s hand, seems unlikely. But Google\u2019s brand relies heavily on being the world\u2019s central source of information.<\/p>\n

Earlier this week, AG Sulzberger, the chair of the New York Times, revealed that the publisher had already spent $20m (\u00a315m) on lawsuits against OpenAI and AI startup Perplexity<\/a> over the use of its copyrighted content.<\/p>\n

Publishers have seen dramatic falls in Google traffic to their websites, and therefore revenue, since their content was pulled into AI summaries.\u00a0However, they have not been able to negotiate AI content deals without jeopardising inclusion in traditional Google search<\/a>, which has been central to online journalism since its inception.<\/p>\n

Tim Cowen, a co-founder of the Movement for an Open Web (MOW) and competition lawyer at Preiskel, believes the CMA\u2019s move means publishers will now have the power to make money from Google\u2019s use of their content in AI.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt provides a baseline that Google can\u2019t just take content,\u201d he says. \u201cThis provides a framework to monetisation, which is welcome, but there is a long way to go. It doesn\u2019t provide a mechanism for monetisation, or what enforcement against Google looks like. There is a lot of difficulty for publishers determining what the value of content for AI use actually is.\u201d<\/p>\n

What does Google say?<\/p>\n

Google will have nine months to implement the changes, but the CMA wants swift action on the most important aspects of its decision. The search company announced on Wednesday it was testing a new control that lets website owners manage how their links and content appear in AI features such as AI Over views or AI Mode.<\/p>\n

Google will also give websites more information about how much their content is being used in its AI features.<\/p>\n

This will be trialled with a \u201csubset\u201d of UK websites, said Google, before being rolled out globally. The global deployment underlines the impact of the CMA\u2019s new digital competition powers.<\/p>\n

What is next for the publishing industry? <\/p>\n

Publishers have welcomed the CMA\u2019s move. The News Media Association (NMA), which represents UK news publishers, hailed it as a \u201csignificant step towards levelling the playing field\u201d in an online environment where big tech-controlled algorithms dictate how and where content appears.<\/p>\n

However, concerns remain that dealing with Google will remain a difficult proposition. The Silicon Valley company is to provide \u201cperiodic reporting\u201d to the CMA, but there is little detail on how frequently this will be and what will be provided to prove it is in compliance with its obligations.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt is not all good news,\u201d says Cowen, who along with the Independent Publishers Alliance (IPA) and the Foxglove campaign group filed a complaint to the CMA about Google\u2019s AI Overviews last July. \u201cThe devil in the detail is that we can see Google exploiting the vagueness of what gets reported and when. The worry is Google will slow-roll this. And the question now forced back on publishers is what to do about licensing.\u201d<\/p>\n

Publishers are attempting to address this through the formation of SPUR \u2013 the so-called \u201cNato for news\u201d coalition formed earlier this year <\/a>that includes the BBC, Guardian, Financial Times, Telegraph and Sky. The group added another 20 major publishers this week, as it seeks to strike better AI deals by agreeing common standards and content usage rights.<\/p>\n

Are publishers and AI companies talking?<\/p>\n

Publishers have signed deals with AI firms. For instance, the FT and Washington Post have reached agreements with OpenAI, the developer of ChatGPT, over using their content in responses. The Guardian has signed deals with a variety of businesses including OpenAI, Google, Amazon and Microsoft to allow those companies to use its journalism in some GenAI products.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The UK\u2019s competition watchdog has ordered Google to change how it uses publishers\u2019 content in its AI-powered search…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":713778,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[20],"tags":[256,254,255,64,63,105],"class_list":["post-713777","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-artificial-intelligence","tag-ai","tag-artificial-intelligence","tag-artificialintelligence","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-technology"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/713777","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=713777"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/713777\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/713778"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=713777"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=713777"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=713777"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}