The EU has opened an investigation into Google over its artificial intelligence (AI) summaries which appear above search results.
The European Commission said it would examine whether the firm used data from websites to provide this service - and if it failed to offer appropriate compensation to publishers.
It is also investigating how YouTube videos may have been used to improve its broader AI systems, and whether content creators were able to opt-out.
A Google spokesperson said the probe risks stifling innovation in a market that is more competitive than ever.
Europeans deserve to benefit from the latest technologies, and we will continue to work closely with the news and creative industries as they transition to the AI era, they said.
The EU's investigation will also cover Google's AI Mode, which gives people an answer in a conversational style with some links to other pages, complementing its existing search platform and providing an experience similar to its rivals such as ChatGPT.
Google's introduction of its AI Overview summaries was met with concerns it could result in fewer visits to websites. Without people clicking on web pages, sites generate less money from advertising.
The Daily Mail previously claimed the number of people who clicked its links from Google search results fell by around 50% since the introduction of Google's AI Overview feature.
The Commission expressed concern that both web publishers and YouTube video creators were not being compensated or given the opportunity to opt-out of their content being used to train the company's AI models.
Ed Newton-Rex from the AI fairness campaign group Fairly Trained said it has become career suicide for creators to avoid publishing their work on platforms like YouTube.
He argued that Google effectively makes it conditional on online publishing that the company can utilize users' work to build AI that competes with them.
The Commission’s investigation revolves around whether Google has utilized the work of other creators published online to develop profitable AI tools. Google's generative AI systems quickly produce text, images, or video in response to simple text prompts, leveraging large volumes of online web content for training.
Creators have raised concerns that their works have been used as the foundation for tech giants' AI offerings at the expense of their own rights and livelihoods.
Teresa Ribera, the Commission’s executive vice-president, emphasized that a free and democratic society relies on diverse media and open access to information, warning that AI's rapid growth must not compromise EU values.
The investigation aligns with the EU's stringent digital regulations, which can impose significant fines for violations, inciting backlash from US lawmakers. Notably, Elon Musk's platform X reportedly suspended the Commission's account over a €120m fine concerning its blue verification badges.
