European Commission opens investigation into possible anticompetitive conduct by Google in the use of online content for AI purposes

The European Commission has opened a formal antitrust investigation to assess whether Google has breached EU competition rules by using the content of web publishers, as well as content uploaded on the online video-sharing platform YouTube, for artificial intelligence (‘AI') purposes. The investigation will notably examine whether Google is distorting competition by imposing unfair terms and conditions on publishers and content creators, or by granting itself privileged access to such content, thereby placing developers of rival AI models at a disadvantage. The Commission is concerned that Google may have used: 1) The content of web publishers to provide generative AI-powered services (‘AI Overviews' and ‘AI Mode'). 2) Video and other content uploaded on YouTube to train Google's generative AI models without appropriate compensation to creators and without offering them the possibility to refuse such use of their content. If proven, the practices under investigation may breach EU competition rules that prohibit the abuse of a dominant position