The EU is looking into Google’s AI Overviews and AI Mode
The European Commission has launched a formal antitrust investigation into whether Google has abused its dominance by using content for AI summaries in its search engine without compensating creators. The Commission is also looking into how YouTube handles AI training.
The executive branch of the EU is concerned that Google might have used the content of web publishers to provide generative AI-powered services on its search results without appropriate compensation to publishers and without offering them the possibility to refuse such use of their content.
Specifically, the European Commission is interested in the features ‘AI Overviews’ and ‘AI Mode.’ AI Overviews shows AI-generated summaries responsive to a user’s search query, which is displayed above organic results. AI Mode is a search tab similar to a chatbot, answering users’ queries in a conversational style.
There is no way for media outlets to refuse inclusion in AI Overviews without losing access to the Google search engine. Many media outlets depend on Google for their visitors and income. That’s why content creators don’t want to risk losing access to Google’s search engine.
The European Commission’s second concern revolves around videos uploaded on YouTube to train Google’s generative AI models without properly compensating creators and not offering them the option to refuse such use of their content.
Content creators are obligated to grant Google permission to use their content for different purposes, including training AI models. However, Google doesn’t compensate them for this.
At the same time, rival developers of AI models are barred by YouTube policies from using YouTube content to train their own AI models. The Commission argues that this may constitute abuse of YouTube’s market position.
“AI is bringing remarkable innovation and many benefits for people and businesses across Europe, but this progress cannot come at the expense of the principles at the heart of our societies. This is why we are investigating whether Google may have imposed unfair terms and conditions on publishers and content creators, while placing rival AI models developers at a disadvantage, in breach of EU competition rules,” Teresa Ribera, Executive Vice-President for Clean, Just and Competitive Transition, says in a statement.
Depending on the complexity of the case, antitrust investigations initiated by the European Commission can take years to complete. Therefore, the executive branch of the EU hasn't given a deadline on when it expects to publicly announce its conclusions.
Earlier this month, the European Commission opened an antitrust investigation into Meta to see whether the company’s policy on AI providers’ access to WhatsApp may infringe EU competition rules.
In October 2025, Meta announced a change to its policy and terms for WhatsApp, prohibiting third parties from communicating with customers via WhatsApp. As a result of the new policy, competing AI providers may be blocked from reaching their customers through WhatsApp, making Meta AI the only remaining AI chatbot accessible to users on the platform.