AI has been growing at such a rapid pace that it almost feels uncontrollable, and it’s been a particularly bothersome thorn in the side of news companies due to how it has scraped their content for training, something which Google may be looking to change a little bit with a new licensing project. Google is reportedly looking into working with news companies on an AI licensing project that would presumably see those companies compensated in some form or another.
As Bloomberg notes, Google is “seeking to recruit news organizations for a new licensing project related to artificial intelligence.” It’s not made clear what the licensing project is or what it entails. In short, it hasn’t been confirmed how these news organizations will be compensated. Specifically, with regard to an amount.
Google will start its AI licensing project with about 20 news outlets
Although many of the details appear to remain under wraps for now, it is known how big this project is going to be at the beginning. The report states that Google will initially kick the project off with about 20 news outlets. These will be national news outlets, so that means big publications that cover news from across the country.
The licensing project is designed around “specific products,” but it isn’t clear what those products are. What is clear is that it seems Google wants to start righting the ship with news outlets after years of displaying their content at the top of a search results page. Much of this content started showing up in Search Generative Experience (SGE), which was renamed AI Overviews in 2024.
Prior to all that, Google search would simply populate the ranked list of results based on the search query. Now, you could search for anything, and chances are, AI Overviews will show you the same information a piece of news coverage would have shown you. The difference is now you don’t have to click on that link to read about it. However, AI Overviews is getting that information from those news outlets. Google isn’t alone in this issue, either. As other big players like OpenAI and Perplexity have been under fire for training their AI on content from outlets.
Google has confirmed it’s working on new types of partnerships
These partnerships are likely to be a good first step in Google repairing the damage it has done to its relationships with news organizations over the years. Little is still known about specifics, though. Google has confirmed that partnerships of some kind are being looked into.
According to Bloomberg’s report, a Google spokesperson has stated that it’s working on new partnerships. However, it’s not sharing specific details about these partnerships just yet. Google referred to this project as “experimenting with and exploring new partnerships and experiences.” This suggests that its project may not become a mainstay in how it works with news outlets going forward. Though if anything changes, it may simply be because Google figured out a way that the partnerships work better for news outlets.
Google has drawn a lot of bad attention for these practices to the point that some governments are stepping in. Back at the beginning of July, the EU filed an antitrust complaint against the company for AI Overviews. UK publishers are also demanding that an opt-out option be available.
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