Judge Mehta calls Google's AI Overviews "unfair" to publishers

U.S. District Judge Amit Mehta — who previously ruled that Google holds an illegal monopoly in search — said at a Tuesday hearing that Google’s use of publisher content in AI Overviews “seems really unfair,” per Search Engine Journal. The remarks came as Mehta heard arguments on Google’s motion to dismiss Penske Media’s antitrust suit, which alleges Google uses its search dominance to obtain publisher content for AI Overviews without compensation. Mehta noted that rivals such as OpenAI and Perplexity pay for content, and pushed back on Google’s characterization of AI Overviews as a mere “product improvement,” saying such improvements “are not immune from antitrust scrutiny.”