Even though Google's AI Overviews were introduced with a comically rocky start, it's about to face a far more serious challenge. Penske Media, the publisher for Rolling Stone, Variety, Billboard and others, filed a lawsuit against Google, claiming the tech giant illegally powers its AI Overviews feature with content from its sites. Penske claimed in the lawsuit that the AI feature is also "siphoning and discouraging user traffic to PMC's and other publishers' websites," adding that "the revenue generated by those visits will decline."The lawsuit, filed in Washington, DC's federal district court, claims that about 20 percent of Google searches that link to one of Penske's sites now have AI Overviews. The media company argued that this percentage will continue to increase and that its affiliate revenue through 2024 dropped by more than a third from its peak. Google spokesperson Jose Castaneda said that the tech giant will "defend against these meritless claims" and that "AI Overviews send traffic to a greater diversity of sites."Earlier this year, Google faced a similar lawsuit from Chegg, an educational tech company that's known for textbook rentals. Like Penske Media, this lawsuit alleged that Google's AI Overviews hurt website traffic and revenue for Chegg. However, the Penske lawsuit is the first time that Google has faced legal action from a major US publisher about its AI search capabilities.Beyond Google's legal troubles, other AI companies have also been facing their own court cases. In 2023, the New York Times sued OpenAI, claiming the AI company used published news articles to train its chatbots without offering compensation. More recently, Anthropic agreed to pay a $1.5 billion settlement in a class action lawsuit targeting its Claude chatbot's use of copyrighted works.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/big-tech/google-faces-its-first-ai-overviews-lawsuit-from-a-major-us-publisher-162333462.html?src=rss

China is ending its antitrust probe into Google, which had centered around Android's ubiquity in the mobile world and what impact, if any, it was having on Chinese phone makers like Oppo and Xiaomi that use the software. As reported by the Financial Times, this move comes amid ongoing discussions between the US and Chinese governments over TikTok, NVIDIA, tariffs and the broader trading relationship between the world's two largest economies.Google's search engine remains blocked in China, along with many of its other core products like Gmail, YouTube and Google Maps. Despite this, the tech giant still generates substantial revenue in the country through cloud services and ad sales to Chinese companies targeting overseas audiences.According to the Financial Times, the decision by Beijing to ease up on Google is a tactical move, as China increasingly flexes its regulatory scrutiny on NVIDIA as a negotiating tool during trade talks with the US.Earlier this summer NVIDIA struck a deal with the Trump administration to sell its pared-back H20 GPUs in China on the condition that it gives the US government 15 percent of the sales. Shortly thereafter, however, China began discouraging local companies from buying the H20 chips. Recently, the government outright banned Chinese tech companies from buying NVIDIA's newest AI chip made specifically for the region, the RTX Pro 6000D.In yet another move to exert control and flex power, Chinese regulators have accused NVIDIA of violating Chinese antitrust laws with its acquisition of chipmaker Mellanox. Were the chipmaker to be found in violation of China's anti-monopoly law, the company could owe fines between 1 percent and 10 percent of its 2024 sales.US and Chinese officials just wrapped three days of trade talks in Madrid, with President Donald Trump and President Xi Jinping set to speak on Friday. The leaders are expected to discuss a supposed framework for a TikTok deal that would cede control of the company's US business to American companies, resulting in a roughly 80 percent stake in the entity domestically.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/big-tech/china-closes-antitrust-probe-into-googles-android-operating-system-145815140.html?src=rss

Search Live is now available for Google app users in the US, offering real-time, multimodal search, powered by AI. This feature will enable users to have real-time conversations with Google Search in AI Mode while sharing their phone's camera feed with the app. Search will be able to see and interpret what the user's camera is focused on and offer relevant links for deeper context, as well as live guidance.The new feature can be accessed from a new "Live" icon beneath the search bar in the Google app. It can also be used from Google Lens by selecting the Live option at the bottom of the screen. Camera sharing will be enabled by default here to allow for an instant back-and-forth conversation about whatever is in front of you.Search Live is available through the Google app on iOS and Android now. This wider rollout only supports English for now.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/ai/googles-ai-search-live-is-now-available-to-all-us-app-users-151849371.html?src=rss