Google is currently embroiled in a legal dispute with educational technology firm Chegg, which alleges that the search engine’s AI feature – AI Overviews – is undermining demand for original content and impeding publishers’ competitiveness. AI Overviews are automated summaries generated by AI that appear within Google Search.
As reported by news agency Reuters, a lawsuit was initiated in Washington, DC, where Chegg contended that Google is appropriating publishers’ content to keep users engaged on its own platform, effectively stripping away the financial motivations that encourage content creation.
The company claims that Google’s practices could ultimately result in an “emptied-out information ecosystem that is of little value and untrustworthy.”
Since the rollout of Google’s AI overviews, Chegg has noted a drop in website traffic and subscriber numbers. In light of this, Chegg’s CEO Nathan Schultz has disclosed that the firm is now considering a potential sale or private acquisition.
“Our lawsuit goes beyond Chegg – it addresses the digital publishing sector, the future of online search, and the risk of students being deprived of quality, comprehensive learning in favor of substandard, unverified AI-generated summaries,” Schultz remarked. He further accused Google of gaining profits from Chegg’s content without providing due compensation.
Google’s Response
Google representative Jose Castaneda dismissed the allegations as “baseless,” according to the report.
“With AI Overviews, users find Search to be more useful and make greater use of it, generating new opportunities for content to be discovered. Every day, Google directs billions of clicks to websites across the internet, and AI Overviews enhance traffic to a wider range of sites,” Castaneda stated.
Chegg’s lawsuit highlights the traditional arrangement where publishers permit Google to index their websites to create search results, which Google monetizes through advertising. In return, publishers benefit from search traffic when users click on the results.
However, Chegg claims that Google has started to pressure publishers into allowing their information to be used for AI overviews and other features, which has led to a notable decline in website visitors.
Recently, during the World Government Summit in the UAE, Google CEO Sundar Pichai emphasized Google’s substantial growth in search, propelled by AI Overviews. He also noted that links embedded within AI Overviews achieve higher click-through rates compared to those placed outside of them.
