Google faces new EU investigation for AI search tools

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Europe has once again turned on its favorite pastime: investigating American tech giants. 

This week, the European Commission opened a formal probe into whether Google quietly helped itself to the internet buffet, publisher content included, to fuel its shiny new AI features, without asking or paying anyone first.

At the heart of the investigation are Google’s AI Overview and AI Mode, the company’s new “let me just summarize the whole internet for you” features that now appear above normal search results. 

The Commission wants to know whether Google is generating these answers using other people’s content, everything from blogs to news sites to YouTube uploads, without offering compensation or meaningful opt-out options.

In classic EU legal prose (but with chaotic energy), the Commission noted that publishers might not have a choice: refuse data access and risk disappearing from Google Search entirely, the digital equivalent of being dropped off a cliff in visibility.

Another red flag for regulators: YouTube. Google allegedly gives itself access to YouTube content for training and AI summaries, while blocking competitors from doing the same. 

It’s like throwing a party, inviting everyone to the house, and then telling only your friends they can eat the snacks.

Google, for its part, insists this is all overblown. A spokesperson said the complaint could “stifle innovation” and argued that Europe deserves the latest AI tools, ideally those made by Google.

The timing is spicy: lawsuits are piling up worldwide from publishers accusing AI companies of treating copyrighted content like free samples. 

Perplexity is already facing lawsuits from multiple major media outlets. 

But unlike those lawsuits, which are often bargaining chips for licensing deals, the EU is playing a bigger game: ensuring Google doesn’t privately build an AI empire with more data access than anyone else.

And yes, while Big Tech continues ranting that Brussels is over-regulating AI into oblivion, the EU is actually considering softening some rules. 

But when it comes to competition? The bloc clearly isn’t blinking.