A European Court of Justice adviser has warned that Google's Gemini chatbot may infringe publishers' copyright by reusing news articles in AI-generated answers. Google faced a setback on Tuesday when an adviser to Europe's highest court said its Gemini chatbot's use of publishers' articles to respond to queries from internet users may breach copyright rules.The case underscores growing tensions between publishers and big online platforms over the platforms' AI chatbots' use of press stories without what publishers say is proper compensation.
The tensions have prompted complaints to EU and national antitrust regulators.The Misinformation Monitor newsletter rounds up international misinformation narratives, with a "Real or Fake?" quiz in every edition. Sign up here.The case before the Luxembourg-based Court of Justice of the European Union pitted Hungarian website operator Like Company against US-based Google's (GOOGL.O), opens new tab artificial intelligence chatbot Gemini.A ruling against Google, which could force the tech giant to pay fees for the use of such content, could throw a lifeline to online media such as Like Company.
They have seen traffic dwindle as news summaries written by AI chatbots like Gemini increasingly replace traditional search engines' results, which include hyperlinks to the media websites. "When an LLM (large language model)-driven chatbot retrieves a publication from a press publisher's website, reuses that publication to generate an answer, and provides that answer to the user, the press publisher's right may be infringed in certain circumstances," Advocate General Maciej Szpunar said.Gemini's answers fall under the publishers' right of reproduction when chatbots access publications by unlawfully circumventing paywalls or other technical barriers, or when they reuse "the form of expression of that publication in a recognisable manner", he said. Publishers depend on Google to reach readers, while Google increasingly delivers AI-generated answers directly to users," said Angela Mills Wade, the council's executive director."Publishers should not have to choose between search visibility and protecting their rights.
Nor should Google's control over access to audiences become leverage to secure publishers' content for AI services," she said.- Ends