Google has admitted in court that it can use website content to train AI features in its search products, even when publishers have opted out of such training.
Although Google offers a way for sites to block their data from being used by its AI lab, DeepMind, the company confirmed that its broader search division can still use that data for AI-powered tools like AI Overviews.
An initiative like this has raised concern among publishers who seek reduced traffic as Google’s AI summarises answers directly at the top of search results, diverting users from clicking through to original sources.
Eli Collins, a vice-president at Google DeepMind, acknowledged during a Washington antitrust trial that Google’s search team could train AI using data from websites that had explicitly opted out.
The only way for publishers to fully prevent their content from being used in this way is by opting out of being indexed by Google Search altogether—something that would effectively make them invisible on the web.
Google’s approach relies on the robots.txt file, a standard that tells search bots whether they are allowed to crawl a site.
The trial is part of a broader effort by the US Department of Justice to address Google’s dominance in the search market, which a judge previously ruled had been unlawfully maintained.
The DOJ is now asking the court to impose major changes, including forcing Google to sell its Chrome browser and stop paying to be the default search engine on other devices. These changes would also apply to Google’s AI products, which the DOJ argues benefit from its monopoly.
Testimony also revealed internal discussions at Google about how using extensive search data, such as user session logs and search rankings, could significantly enhance its AI models.
Although no model was confirmed to have been built using that data, court documents showed that top executives like DeepMind CEO Demis Hassabis had expressed interest in doing so.
Google’s lawyers have argued that competitors in AI remain strong, with many relying on direct data partnerships instead of web scraping.
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