By Paul Sandle and Muvija M
LONDON, Jan 28 (Reuters) – Britain said it wanted Google to change its search services to give businesses and consumers more choice, including allowing publishers to “opt out” of their content being used in its AI Overviews or to train standalone AI models.
The proposals come after the Competition and Markets Authority designated Google with “strategic market status” in October, giving the CMA the power to take measures to increase competition in the sector.
Google, which accounts for more than 90% of search queries in Britain, uses content harvested by its search crawler to build its AI Overviews and AI mode, as well as standalone products like its Gemini AI assistant.
News websites and other publishers have seen click-through rates drop sharply as a result of users relying on overviews generated with the help of AI.
The CMA wants to shift the balance by allowing publishers to “opt out” of Google’s AI features without affecting their position in general searches.
It also proposed changes to make sure the ranking of search results is fair and transparent and make it easier for people to choose other search engines.
SEARCH IS CHANGING
CMA chief executive Sarah Cardell said the “targeted and proportionate actions” would give UK businesses and consumers more choice and control.
“They would also provide a fairer deal for content publishers, particularly news organisations, over how their content is used in Google’s AI Overviews,” she said.
Google, however, said people were changing how they searched and its AI Overviews were helping them discover new content.
It said it provided publishers with a range of controls and it was “exploring updates” to let sites opt out of search generative AI features.
“Any new controls need to avoid breaking search in a way that leads to a fragmented or confusing experience for people,” said Ron Eden, Google’s principal for product management.
“We’re optimistic we can find a path forward that provides even more choice to website owners and publishers, while ensuring people continue to get the most helpful and innovative search experience possible.”
A consultation on the proposals will close on February 25.
($1 = 0.7264 pounds)
(Reporting by Muvija M and Paul Sandle; Editing by Sarah Young, Mark Heinrich and Hugh Lawson)
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