The European Commission opened an antitrust investigation to assess if Alphabet’s (GOOG) (GOOGL) Google has breached EU competition rules by using the content of web publishers and content uploaded on YouTube for AI purposes.
The EU antitrust regulator said that the probe will examine if Google is distorting competition by imposing unfair terms and conditions on publishers and content creators or by granting itself privileged access to such content, thus placing developers of rival AI models at a disadvantage.
“This complaint risks stifling innovation in a market that is more competitive than ever. Europeans deserve to benefit from the latest technologies and we will continue to work closely with the news and creative industries as they transition to the AI era,” said a Google Spokesperson in an emailed statement to Seeking Alpha.
The Commission said it is concerned that Google may have used content of web publishers to provide generative AI-powered services — AI Overviews and AI Mode — on its search results pages without appropriate compensation to publishers and without giving them the possibility to refuse such use of their content.
The agency added that it is concerned that Google may have used video and other content uploaded on YouTube to train Google’s generative AI models without proper compensation to creators and without offering them the possibility to refuse such use of their content.
Content creators uploading videos on YouTube have to grant Google permission to use their data for different purposes, including for training AI models. However, rival developers of AI models are barred by YouTube policies from using YouTube content to train their own AI models, the Commission added.
“AI is bringing remarkable innovation and many benefits for people and businesses across Europe, but this progress cannot come at the expense of the principles at the heart of our societies. This is why we are investigating whether Google may have imposed unfair terms and conditions on publishers and content creators, while placing rival AI models developers at a disadvantage, in breach of EU competition rules,” said Teresa Ribera, executive vice-president for Clean, Just and Competitive Transition.