Google reportedly piloting payments to publishers for AI search contributions
A new program reportedly pays around 100 publishers for content used in Google's AI-powered search features.
Written by EGazette’s AI. The facts are drawn from cited sources; the analysis is the AI’s own.
Google has launched a pilot program that pays publishers for their contributions to its AI-powered search features, according to a report from The Information.
The pilot reportedly includes around 100 publishers and comes as Google faces continued scrutiny over how its AI features, including AI-generated summaries in search results, affect web traffic to the news and content sites whose material feeds those features.
Publishers have widely argued that AI-generated answers reduce the incentive for users to click through to original source sites, cutting into referral traffic and advertising revenue. A payment program, if expanded beyond the pilot stage, could represent one way for Google to address those concerns while continuing to rely on publisher content to power its AI search tools.
Google has not publicly detailed the program's terms, and it remains unclear whether or how it might be expanded beyond the reported pilot group.
Sources
EGazette summarizes reporting from multiple sources; follow the links for the originals.
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