The news: Penske Media, parent of Rolling Stone, Billboard, and Variety, has become the first major US publisher to sue Google over its AI Overviews feature, per Reuters. The lawsuit alleges Google uses journalism without permission to train and display AI-generated summaries, while reducing referral traffic to publishers’ sites.

Penske claims affiliate revenues dropped by more than a third from its peak by late 2024, blaming traffic loss tied to AI Overviews, which it says now surface on about 20% of relevant searches. The company argues Google’s near-90% US search share forces publishers to accept inclusion in AI Overviews or risk vanishing from search visibility.

TechCrunch noted Penske’s complaint that the traditional “indexing for traffic” model has been replaced: Publishers now must supply content for AI summaries that can replace visits altogether. Penske argued that opting out of AI Overviews is impossible without leaving Google Search entirely—a “devastating” outcome for publishers reliant on search referrals.

The evidence: Google dismissed the lawsuit as “meritless,” saying AI Overviews broaden discovery and direct traffic to more sites. Yet publisher data tells a different story:

• MailOnline reported a 56% decline in click-through rates linked to AI Overviews, per Search Engine Land.
• Data from Digital Content Next suggests AI Overviews have led to publishers experiencing declines in referral traffic as great as 25%.
• Only 8% of Google users whose search triggered an AI Overview clicked on a link, per Pew Research; nearly twice as many (15%) clicked a link when an AI Overview wasn’t present.
• Chegg filed a separate lawsuit earlier this year citing similar losses.

Why it matters: With Chegg’s earlier lawsuit and Penske’s high-profile case, courts will soon test whether AI training and summaries qualify as “fair use.”

Google recently avoided an antitrust breakup but must alter contracts and share limited search data—remedies publishers say don’t address AI Overviews’ impact.

Our take: This case spotlights the conflict between AI-driven search and publisher survival. Google insists AI Overviews expand discovery, but evidence from Penske and others shows traffic and revenues are already under strain.

Unlike OpenAI, which has struck licensing deals with publishers including News Corp and the Financial Times, Google is relying on its market dominance to avoid payouts. If courts side with publishers, it could force a new revenue-sharing model for AI content. If not, the open web risks becoming collateral damage as traffic and monetization consolidate further inside Google’s ecosystem.