Paris: France's leading newspaper alliance issued a statement on Tuesday calling for action over Google's AI Overviews amid concerns that the feature could reduce traffic to news websites. The General Information Press Alliance (APIG), which represents some 300 daily newspapers, said it had referred the matter to the Competition Authority to ensure that Google complies with the commitments it made in 2022.

According to Philippines News Agency, AI Overviews are artificial intelligence-generated responses that appear above traditional search links, built using content from news publishers and were launched before any negotiations took place. The alliance noted that publishers were offered only an update to the existing licensing agreement, with the sole alternative being a technical withdrawal resulting in a loss of visibility. They were presented with a fait accompli, the group wrote in their statement.

The alliance highlighted a 2019 law that makes the use of press content subject to prior authorization and remuneration, recalling Google's 2022 commitments to negotiate in good faith, ensure transparency, and avoid discrimination, which were made binding by the Competition Authority until 2027. The unilateral deployment of new uses of press content, without prior authorization or dedicated remuneration, fails to comply with these commitments, the statement said.

Further, the alliance cited estimates by the Regulatory Authority for Audiovisual and Digital Communication (Arcom) indicating traffic losses attributable to AI-generated summaries range between 33 percent and 38 percent in European markets where the services are already active. It stressed that the complaint aims to restore the conditions for further negotiations, emphasizing that publishers are willing to support these new uses within a balanced framework based on negotiated authorization and remuneration.

The statement concluded by asserting the substantial value of press content, underlining that publishers are not opposing innovation but are calling for a fair share of the value derived from their work, as required by law.