Google Considers Letting Websites Opt Out of Having Content Scraped for AI Overviews

"Google says it's exploring the option of letting publishers opt out of having their website content used to generate AI Overviews at the top of search results. In a blog post published on Thursday, the company addressed its approach to the controls it provides to websites in order to manage how their content appears in Search AI features. The post was Google's response to the fact that the UK's Competition and Markets Authority has opened a consultation into potential new requirements for Google."

"Google introduced its AI Overviews features, which places AI-generated summaries at the top of search results, in summer 2024. The company relies on information scraped from websites to generate Overviews, and websites have been unable to opt out of Google using their content for this purpose. As a direct result of this, many publishers and media organizations around the world have reported massive drops in click-through traffic, which has a domino effect on revenue."

"Citing Google's dominant position in the online search world, the CMA proposed a package of measures on Wednesday designed to ensure news and content producers get a fairer deal over how their content in used by the company. These measures include allowing publishers to opt out of their content being used to power AI features, such as AI overview, or to train AI models outside of Google Search."

Google is exploring updating controls to let publishers opt out of having their website content used to generate AI Overviews that appear at the top of Search results. The AI Overviews feature relies on information scraped from websites and currently prevents sites from opting out, which many publishers say has caused large drops in click-through traffic and harmed revenue and content production. The UK's Competition and Markets Authority proposed measures to allow publishers to opt out of content being used for Search AI features or to train AI models outside Google Search. Google says it aims to maintain Search helpfulness while giving websites tools to manage their content and will engage with the CMA process.

Read at CNET