Chegg Files Lawsuit Against Google, Claims AI Overviews Harm Publishers’ Revenue Streams
A lawsuit filed by U.S. education technology company Chegg accuses Google of using its artificial intelligence (AI) overviews to undermine the digital publishing industry. The lawsuit, filed in Washington, D.C., claims that Google’s AI-generated summaries are reducing demand for original content, ultimately eroding the incentives for publishers to produce quality material. According to Chegg, Google’s AI features have led to a significant drop in its own traffic and subscriptions, and the company is now exploring a potential sale.
Chegg argues that Google’s use of publishers’ content for its AI overviews has directly impacted its bottom line. The company alleges that Google’s strategy of keeping users on its own platform, rather than directing them to publishers’ sites, deprives content creators of valuable web traffic. Chegg’s CEO, Nathan Schultz, warned that this practice would result in a “hollowed-out information ecosystem,” where users lose access to reliable and trustworthy information, replaced by AI-generated summaries that may not be verified or of high quality.
In its defense, Google dismissed the claims as meritless. A spokesperson for the tech giant emphasized that AI overviews make search results more helpful for users, thus benefiting both Google and content creators by driving more traffic to websites. Despite this, Chegg maintains that Google is profiting from the use of its content without compensation, undermining the business model of digital publishers, particularly in the education space.
The lawsuit is believed to be the first antitrust case specifically targeting Google’s AI overviews. It alleges that Google’s actions violate laws against coercing companies into giving up products in exchange for others, which could lead to further scrutiny of Google’s business practices in the digital publishing sector. The case is being overseen by U.S. District Judge Amit Mehta, who previously ruled that Google holds an illegal monopoly in online search.
SOURCE: REUTERS