YouTube, Websites' Data Used To Train AI Mode: Why Google Facing EU Antitrust Probe

The European Union has opened an antitrust investigation into Google, citing its unsolicited use of information published on various websites in its 'AI Mode' as well as use of YouTube data to train its models.

The central goal of the inquest being to determine if these practises are "placing developers of rival AI models at a disadvantage", according to a press note from the European Commission.

The Silicon Valley giant will face investigation for "anti-competitive" practises due to its widespread access to data available on all the websites listed on its browser, which it uses for its AI mode, without prior permission from them.

The European Commission will also look into whether the Big Tech figure is forcing unjust conditions on publishers.

"If proven, the practises under investigation may breach EU competition rules that prohibit the abuse of a dominant position (Article 102 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union (‘TFEU')) and Article 54 of the European Economic Area (‘EEA') Agreement," the press note said.

The European body singled out Google's 'AI Mode' and 'AI Overview' features as requiring scrutiny. The former provides a conversational experience for users looking for specific data, while the latter provides a short summary of the information the user requested.

The AI Overview feature may discourage users from clicking on website links due to it extracting relevant information from them for the user to access, reducing clicks for their websites.

"The Commission will investigate to what extent the generation of AI Overviews and AI Mode by Google is based on web publishers' content without appropriate compensation for that, and without the possibility for publishers to refuse without losing access to Google Search," the press note said.

"Indeed, many publishers depend on Google Search for user traffic, and they do not want to risk losing access to it," it added.

Google reportedly has over 70% of market share in the search engine industry, which may pose difficulty in exercising bargaining power for website owners.

The EU also stated that content creators who post to YouTube are obligated to allow Google to use their work to train their AI models, without compensation, with other AI companies barred from doing so due to the site's content policy.

"Google does not remunerate YouTube content creators for their content, nor does it allow them to upload their content on YouTube without allowing Google to use such data," the EU said.

"At the same time, rival developers of AI models are barred by YouTube policies from using YouTube content to train their own AI models," it added.