Google can be directly held liable for false claims in AI Overviews because they aren’t search results, but rather content that Google creates. Therefore, AI-generated summaries aren’t protected as traditional search results.
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A Munich court says Google can be liable for false statements in AI Overviews.
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AI Overviews are treated as generated content, not traditional search results.
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Two publishers were wrongly linked to scams and deceptive practices.
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The ruling could reshape legal responsibility for AI-generated search summaries.
That’s what the Regional Court of Munich ruled earlier this week.
Two Munich-based publishers filed a lawsuit against Google for spreading false claims about the companies through its AI-powered summaries.
AI Overview tied both companies to scams, subscription traps, and shady business practices for certain search queries. However, Google’s AI summaries mixed these accusations with those of other, genuinely sketchy companies and falsely attributed them to the plaintiffs.
The publishers sent Google a cease-and-desist letter, but Google didn’t respond appropriately.
The Regional Court of Munich ruled in favor of the plaintiffs.
According to the judge, AI Overviews are nothing like traditional search results. In Google Search’s search results, Google can argue that it merely collects content on the internet and presents it to users, without interfering with it.
This isn’t the case with AI Overviews. These AI-generated summaries check various online sources and formulate “independent, new, and substantive statements” on this information. To the average user, this appears to be information directly from Google and not necessarily a collection of third-party content.
During the hearing, Google argued that users could check the linked sources themselves to verify whether AI Overview was correct, and that information generated by AI should not be blindly trusted.
However, the court rejected this argument, citing studies that show that users hardly ever click on sources in AI Overviews.
Google’s AI Overviews are no longer allowed to spread false claims about the publishers. If Google fails to meet this demand, it risks receiving an administrative court fine of up to €250,000 per violation.
Google can challenge the court’s ruling. As of writing, Google hasn’t decided whether it will appeal the verdict.
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