French Press Body Seeks Action on Google AI’s Article Summaries
French Press Association Challenges Google’s AI Summaries
By Inti Landauro
Background and Recent Developments
PARIS, Aug 11 (Reuters) - A French press association has asked the country's competition watchdog to take action against Google's artificial intelligence-generated article summaries, which the trade group says deprive newspapers and magazines of readers.
Comparison to Meta’s Case
The group has called on the regulator to make a decision similar to that which ordered Meta to put forward a payment plan and resume talks with traditional media seeking fees for the use of their content by AI tools.
Alliance’s Stance and Google’s Response
The Alliance of General Information Press, which represents French newspapers and magazines, opposes the recent rollout of AI-generated article summaries by Google without consultation, the alliance said in a statement.
Google did not respond immediately to a request for comment.
History of Disputes with Google
Previous Rulings and Fines
Four years ago the competition watchdog forced Alphabet's Google to pay for using French press articles on its platforms, including its search engines.
Google was fined €500 million ($576.8 million) after the copyright dispute.
Alliance’s Criticism of Google’s Actions
"The unilateral deployment of new uses of press content, without prior authorisation or dedicated remuneration, disregards these commitments," the alliance said, adding that the communications regulator, Arcom, has estimated traffic on their sites has fallen by between 33% and 38% because of AI-generated summaries.
Publishers’ Demands for Value Sharing
"The fact that AI is built upon media content means one single thing: this information has considerable value," Marc Feuillee, the alliance's president, said in the statement. Publishers demand this value is shared, he added.
Additional Information
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(Reporting by Inti LandauroEditing by Sudip Kar-Gupta and David Goodman)
