The European Commission has opened an investigation into Google to determine whether the tech giant has abused its dominant search engine position by using published web content and YouTube videos to train its AI models - possibly in violation of EU competition rules.
At the center of the inquiry are Google's AI Overviews and its practice of using user-uploaded videos on YouTube for AI training - without providing what regulators describe as adequate compensation or refusal options to creators and publishers. The Commission argues that this setup might unfairly disadvantage other content creators and rival AI developers.
EU antitrust chief Teresa Ribera stated that while AI offers remarkable innovation, it must not come at the expense of a healthy information ecosystem. She emphasised the need to protect media diversity, the livelihoods of creators, and fair competition in the digital economy.
