Google’s AI advantage: why crawler separation is the only path to a fair Internet

Earlier this week, the UK’s Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) opened its consultation on a package of proposed conduct requirements for Google. The consultation invites comments on the proposed requirements before the CMA imposes any final measures. These new rules aim to address the lack of choice and transparency that publishers (broadly defined as “any party that makes content available on the web”) face over how Google uses search to fuel its generative AI services and features. These are the first consultations on conduct requirements launched under the digital markets competition regime in the UK. 

We welcome the CMA’s recognition that publishers need a fairer deal and believe the proposed rules are a step into the right direction. Publishers should be entitled to have access to tools that enable them to control the inclusion of their content in generative AI services, and AI companies should have a level playing field on which to compete. 

But we believe the CMA has not gone far enough and should do more to safeguard the UK’s creative sector and foster healthy competition in the market for generative and agentic AI. 

In January Continue reading