German court holds Google liable for inaccurate AI overviews

[Dopious]

A German regional court has found Google directly liable for false claims in the search engine's AI reviews. The case involved the AI reviews wrongly linking two Munich-based publishers to fraud and suspicious business practices.

The court ruled that the AI overviews – which provide direct answers to questions – are Google’s own content, unlike the classic search results which simply show a list of websites related to the search phrase. Therefore, Google is liable for what the AI overviews claim.

According to the court, the allegations of shady behavior were not even included in the search results. The reasoning was that Google created the artificial intelligence and Google offered it to users, and only Google has control over what the algorithm and model claim.

Google reportedly argued that users can visit the source citations and verify for themselves whether what the AI review claims is true, and that users understand that they should not blindly trust information generated by AI – something the court did not buy. In an analysis commissioned by the New York Times, the AI reviews were correct 91 percent of the time.

Source: https://the-decoder.com/landmark-ge...-words-and-makes-it-liable-for-false-answers/

 

[Rem]

91% is still better than near 0% of the time lol

 

[Preying Mantis]

Damn bro the EU is suing Google left right and center!

TBH kinda just seems like an excuse for government to suck money out of them which I don't mind but then what's stopping them from doing that to anyone else?

 

[SilverClouds]

Damn bro the EU is suing Google left right and center!

Good, if they want to do business in EU they should follow EU rules.

TBH kinda just seems like an excuse for government to suck money out of them which I don't mind but then what's stopping them from doing that to anyone else?

Valid concern. They already do eh

 

[Zwielicht]

91% is still better than near 0% of the time lol
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The courts are like, “Nothing less than perfect is acceptable!”

 

[Dopious]

Google make the content with their own AI, so Google is responsile of that Overview content. It is like you write an article on your website, no matter if you link sources you are the creator of the content.

Not to compare with their regular search results that fetches websites meta only.

I think it was a good ruling by the court as it shows Google where the line of responsibility is drawn, and establishes a legal precedent.

 

[Champagne]

TBH kinda just seems like an excuse for government to suck money out of them which I don't mind but then what's stopping them from doing that to anyone else?

Nothing stops them, which is the problem.

 

[Starblazer]

If other search engines apply the same logic, they can show Google's CEO and top employees as Onlyfans models and can getaway with it by asking users to verify citations instead of trusting AI generated spam.