Alphabet's Google is facing an EU antitrust complaint from independent publishers concerning its AI Overviews feature, which displays AI-generated summaries of web content above traditional search links.

The complaint calls for regulations that would allow independent journalism to opt out of AI training and summarization without facing penalties.

Publishers argue that these AI Overviews are causing significant harm to their businesses, leading to declines in traffic, readership, and revenue.

In response, the group has requested interim measures to prevent what they describe as ongoing and potentially irreparable harm to their operations.

While the European Commission has acknowledged the complaint, neither it nor the UK's Competition and Markets Authority has publicly responded to the accusations.

This situation underscores the ongoing regulatory challenges posed by AI technology in digital content management, highlighting the need for frameworks that balance innovation with content rights protection.

The complaint is part of a broader struggle for fair compensation in an AI-driven landscape, where traditional media traffic is rapidly declining.

The conflict reflects growing concerns about how generative AI models utilize copyrighted material and threaten the viability of traditional publishing.

Since the launch of Google's AI Overviews in May 2024, 37 of the top 50 US news domains have experienced year-over-year traffic declines, indicating a significant impact on the news industry.

Publishers contend that the feature scrapes their original content to create summaries without offering an opt-out option, jeopardizing the survival of news institutions.

The News/Media Alliance has described Google's actions as 'the definition of theft,' arguing that it fails to compensate publishers for their content.

This antitrust complaint coincides with the EU's firm rejection of requests from over 45 tech and industrial firms to delay the implementation of the EU AI Act, emphasizing the Commission's commitment to stringent AI regulations.