Google's early attempt to pay websites for AI answers is struggling
Google's pilot paying publishers for AI Overview contributions is struggling amid tiny, opaque payouts and lawsuits.
Publishers in Google’s pilot to pay sites whose content contributes to AI Overviews say payouts are small and hard to predict, with niche topics such as anime and gaming earning more. They report that Search Console tracking does not clearly define a meaningful contribution. The New York Times is suing over alleged use of its content to train AI, and Penske Media has sued over lost traffic and the tying of AI scraping to ordinary indexing. The UK has ordered an AI opt-out that would not penalize organic search, and the European Commission is probing whether publishers are fairly compensated.
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