Google's AI news summaries in Discover feed are worrying publishers
What's the story
Google Discover, the personalized news feed within the Google Search app, is getting a major upgrade. The tech giant is introducing AI-generated summaries directly into the platform. According to TechCrunch, some users in the US have started seeing these new summaries on their iOS and Android devices. The feature replaces traditional headlines and logos from individual publishers with a more streamlined look, much like how AI Overviews show at the top of results in Search.
Feature details
How the AI-generated news summaries look
The AI summaries in Discover show overlapping icons in the top-left corner, indicating how many stories are cited. Tapping these icons opens a "More" sheet with all the articles that contributed to it. Users get a quick three-line preview before they have to tap "See more" for an expanded summary. A disclaimer appears under the text stating that these summaries are generated by AI, "which can make mistakes."
Concerns
Publishers fear decline in website traffic
The new AI feature from Google comes at a time when news publishers are struggling with website traffic. Generative AI tools take information from publicly available web pages and provide conversational answers to queries. This has started eating into search traffic globally as users don't click on original sources. For now, Google Discover's AI feature will focus on trending lifestyle topics like sports and entertainment.