You’re not the only one sick of scrolling past AI summarizations at the top of every internet search—a group of eight Democratic senators has asked the Federal Trade Commission to investigate whether the practice adopted by Google and other big tech platforms violates antitrust laws.
In a letter to the FTC, the senators wrote that AI summaries unfairly lift content from news outlets and other publishers without permission, directing internet traffic and the associated ad revenue, away from the original sources.
“When a generative AI feature answers a query directly, it often forces the content creator—whose content has been relegated to a lower position on the user interface—to compete with content generated from their own work,” the senators wrote.
The only way for publishers to avoid having their content misappropriated by big tech platforms’ generative AI summaries is to opt out of having their websites indexed by search engines altogether, effectively a death blow for any online business, according to the letter, which was signed by senators Amy Klobuchar (D-MN), Richard Blumenthal (D-CT), Mazie Hirono (D-HI), Dick Durbin (D-IL), Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI), Tammy Duckworth (D-IL), Elizabeth Warren (D-MA), and Tina Smith (D-MN).
The lawmakers’ call for an antitrust investigation comes as Google, by far the most dominant search engine, is already facing its third antitrust trial in 10 months.
In December, a federal jury found that Google maintained a monopoly over apps built for Android devices. The case was brought by video game maker Epic Games, which argued that Google undermined Epic and other developers’ attempts to create their own Android marketplaces and instead forced phone owners to purchase and download apps through the Google Play Store, which charged a commission of up to 30 percent on every transaction.
In August, a federal judge ruled that Google operated another illegal monopoly that controlled about 90 percent of the internet search market thanks to agreements that ensured Google was installed as the default search engine on phones and web browsers.
In the third trial, which began this week, the Department of Justice and a coalition of states have accused Google of more illegal anti-competitive practices in online advertising. They argue that Google bought out the companies that acted as middlemen between online advertisers and publishers and used that controlling position to crush competition.
In their letter to the FTC, the group of senators pointed out that as big tech companies’ control over online search traffic and their profits from online advertising have soared, local newspapers and publishers have suffered. The placement of AI-generated summaries at the top of search results, which Google foisted upon the internet in May, has only exacerbated that dynamic.
“While a traditional search result or news feed links may lead users to the publisher’s website, an AI-generated summary keeps the users on the original search platform, where that platform alone can profit from the user’s attention through advertising and data collection,” the senators wrote. “Although these features may provide partial citations or links to sources, they are often hidden behind tabs or at the bottom of a page where users are unlikely to scroll after already reading an answer.”