A package of measures designed to improve the fairness of Google search, particularly with regards to its integration of AI, has been proposed by UK regulators.
The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) in October last year ruled that Google holds Strategic Market Status (SMS) in online searching, a recently introduced designation that allows the watchdog to introduce targeted rules or conduct requirements to ensure fair and proportionate business practices.
The CMA on Wednesday announced its proposals for Google to improve its UK search services, with a heavy focus on the changes made to the search experience since the tech giant introduced AI overviews and AI mode to its search engine.
A key demand for the CMA is ensuring that the original publishers of content get a fairer deal in how their work is used in Google’s AI overviews.
The CMA proposed that publishers should be allowed to opt out of being included in AI features and training, and that Google should take proper steps to ensure publisher content is properly attributed in AI results.
It also called for fairer ranking. This would see Google required to make sure its approach to ranking search results is transparent for businesses and have an effective process for raising issues.
“Today is an important milestone as we consult on the first conduct requirements under the digital markets competition regime in the UK,” said Sarah Cardell, chief executive of the CMA.
“These targeted and proportionate actions would give UK businesses and consumers more choice and control over how they interact with Google’s search services – as well as unlocking greater opportunities for innovation across the UK tech sector and broader economy.
“They would also provide a fairer deal for content publishers, particularly news organisations, over how their content is used in Google’s AI Overviews.”
