Google's AI Advances Present Fresh Challenges for Publishers

Google is venturing deeper into artificial intelligence, presenting fresh opportunities and challenges for news publishers struggling to adapt in the digital age.

The tech giant has introduced AI-generated summaries at the top of some search queries through a new tool called Search Generative Experience (SGE). The automatically created overviews pull data from multiple sites and link out to original sources.

For now SGE is opt-in, available in the U.S., India and Japan. But publishers are worried that this early version could potentially change shifts in how users find and consume information online.

On one hand, the summaries could satisfy searchers' needs without having to click through to an article. This risks diverting precious traffic and ad revenues. 

Google says SGE aims to highlight web content, not replace it. But publishers claim the black box nature of these AI systems makes it hard to optimize their sites. "We don't know how to make sure we're a part of it" said one executive. There are also concerns over summarization accuracy and being properly credited as the source.

For news outlets heavily reliant on Google search, blocking content from its AI crawler would render stories invisible on the dominant platform. A new opt-out tool called Google Extended lets sites block AI crawling without losing search visibility.

But that tool doesn't apply to SGE. Opting out of its summaries means opting out of all searches on Google.

It's a difficult tradeoff, given Google drives 40% or more of traffic to many news sites. "Publishers have long allowed Google to crawl for free," notes one reporter. "Now it may use their content to create summaries users read instead of clicking."

Google says SGE aims to highlight quality information on the web. But feelings of worry persist amid rapid AI advances. Developments like ChatGPT can create articles from simple prompts.

As generative AI takes off, news media hope to avoid past mistakes that saw giants like Google and Facebook come to dominate online advertising. This time they want a seat at the table to shape how emerging technologies value and distribute news.

The stakes are immense with AI set to alter how knowledge is gathered and shared. For publishers navigating relentless disruption, the road ahead remains filled with opportunity and uncertainty alike.