Google Ties Publisher Payments to AI Training Rights

Google is conditioning its payments to news publishers on their participation in a new pilot program that could grant the company extensive rights to use their content for artificial intelligence training, according to a report from The Information.

The program involves featuring "AI-powered article overviews" in both Google News and the Gemini AI chatbot. Publishers who decline to participate will eventually lose the annual fees they currently receive from Google for having their articles featured in Google News, as the company plans to discontinue that existing arrangement, The Information reported Thursday, citing an unnamed source.

The new terms

The rights Google is requesting from participating publishers could include permission to use their content to train the company's AI models. This represents a significant expansion beyond the current arrangement, where Google pays publishers primarily for display rights.

A Google spokesperson told The Information that "as people's news preference change, we've been expanding our partnerships through our News AI pilot program, working with a wide range of publishers to explore how AI can drive more engaged audiences."

In a December blog post, Google said it had formed commercial partnerships with more than 3,000 publications, platforms and content providers over recent years, paying for extended display rights and content delivery methods. The company described the AI pilot as an evolution of these partnerships "for the AI era."

Why it matters

This move puts news publishers in a difficult position: accept broader AI training rights or lose an existing revenue stream at a time when many publications are already struggling financially. The shift reflects how tech companies are seeking to secure training data for AI models while maintaining relationships with content creators. It also highlights the power imbalance between platform companies and publishers, where access to distribution often comes with increasingly expansive terms.

Regulatory scrutiny intensifies

Google's approach is drawing attention from regulators and competitors alike. The European Commission launched an antitrust investigation in December examining whether Google used web publishers' content to provide generative AI-powered services in search results without proper compensation or allowing publishers to opt out.

Meanwhile, legal challenges to AI training practices are mounting. On Wednesday, a coalition representing nearly 400 local and regional newspapers filed a lawsuit against OpenAI and Microsoft, alleging copyright infringement. The suit claims the companies used copyrighted news articles without permission or compensation to build and train their commercial AI products.

The Google pilot program tests AI-powered article overviews on participating publications' Google News pages, designed to give readers more context before clicking through to the full article.

These details were first reported by The Information.