Google is seeking to expand its content rights from publishers
to test new AI features in Google News.
The company is pitching additional options under a pilot program launched late last year to broaden the way it uses
publisher content. “As people’s news
preferences change, we've been expanding our partnerships through our News AI pilot program, working with a wide range of
publishers to explore how AI can drive more engaged audiences," Google confirmed to MediaPost Friday afternoon in response to a report by The Information. "Through this collaboration, we're
testing features in Google News to help people cut through information overload, easily decide where to click out, and connect with news in different formats.” advertisement
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Broader
permissions would give Google more options to use publishers' content, including the ability to train its AI models, as well as to erase future possible liabilities.
By locking publishers into
all-encompassing agreements, Google secures several key capabilities such as a competitive legal advantage, and operational advantages across the internet.
In December, publishers were offered the ability to run promotion in a pilot program,
“AI-powered article overviews,” in Google News and its AI chatbot, Gemini. Initial partners were The Washington Post and The Guardian, during a time when direct traffic
from search engines continued to fall.
The program was designed to explore how generative AI can drive engaged audiences back to original news outlets. It provided specific features to
participating companies.
"If publishers don’t agree to participate, they will eventually lose payments Google had been making under an older news program, Showcase, which it has
told some publishers it plans to end," The Information reported, citing a person with knowledge of the situation.
Google did not originally state that it wanted “publishers to
agree to license their content for AI model training," But The Information points out, a Google blog post linked to another Google blog post explains the company's position on
“commercial partnerships” and “publicly available’ data.”
Jesse Angelo, founder and CEO of investment and production firm Checker Media, told The
Information the referral traffic that publishers get today from Google is so low it has prompted them to pivot “their businesses towards one-to-one relationships, whether that be through
subscriptions or registrations or however it may be.”
Updated Friday: Google's response appears in the third paragraph.