![\"Google](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/google-copying-ai-permission.jpg\")
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\t\t\t ANDREW CABALLERO-REYNOLDS\/AFP via Getty Images\n\t<\/p>\n
Google has relied on a tremendous amount of material without permission to train its Gemini AI models. The company, alongside many of its competitors in the AI space, has been indiscriminately scraping the internet for content, without compensating rightsholders, racking up many copyright infringement lawsuits<\/a> along the way.<\/p>\n But when it comes to its own tech being copied, Google has no problem pointing fingers. This week, the company accused \u201ccommercially motivated\u201d actors of trying to clone its Gemini AI.<\/p>\n In a Thursday report<\/a>, Google complained it had become under \u201cdistillation attacks,\u201d with agents querying Gemini up to 100,000 times to \u201cextract\u201d the underlying model \u2014 the convoluted AI industry equivalent of copying somebody\u2019s homework, basically.<\/p>\n Google called the attacks a \u201cmethod of intellectual property theft that violates Google\u2019s terms of service\u201d \u2014 which, let\u2019s face it, is a glaring double standard given its callous approach to scraping other IP without remuneration.<\/p>\n Google remained vague on who it identified as the culprits, beyond pointing out \u201cprivate sector entities\u201d and \u201cresearchers seeking to clone proprietary logic.\u201d <\/p>\n The stakes are high, as companies continue to pour tens of billions of dollars into AI infrastructure to make models more powerful. It\u2019s no wonder Google is scared to lose its competitive edge as offerings start to converge at the head of the pack. The output of one pioneering model has become almost indistinguishable from another, forcing companies to try to differentiate their products.<\/p>\n It\u2019s far from the first time the subject of model distillation has caused drama. Chinese startup DeepSeek rattled Silicon Valley to its core<\/a> in early 2025 after showing off a far cheaper and more efficient AI model. At the time, OpenAI suggested<\/a> DeepSeek may have broken its terms of service by distilling its AI models.<\/p>\n The ChatGPT maker quickly became the subject of widespread mockery<\/a> following the comments, with netizens accusing the company of hypocrisy, pointing out that OpenAI itself had indiscriminately ripped off other people\u2019s work for many years.<\/p>\n Google\u2019s latest troubles likely won\u2019t be the last time we hear about smaller actors trying to extract mainstream AI models through distillation.<\/p>\n