Tech Desk 
Sep 15, 2025
Penske Media, the publisher of well-known magazines like Rolling Stone, Variety, and Billboard, has filed a historic lawsuit against Google over its AI Overviews feature.
The business claims that Google is using its content to power the AI tool that summarises information in search results without authorisation.
AI Overviews is "syphoning and discouraging user traffic" to Penske's websites, causing a substantial drop in revenue, according to the lawsuit, which was filed in the federal district court in Washington, DC.
According to the lawsuit, AI Overviews are now present in 20% of Google searches that lead to Penske's websites, and this percentage is predicted to rise.
Penske claimed that compared to its 2024 peak, its affiliate revenue has fallen by more than a third.
A Google representative, Jose Castaneda, has pledged to "defend against these meritless claims," claiming that "AI Overviews send traffic to a greater diversity of sites."
For the first time, a significant US publisher has sued Google for its AI search capabilities.
It comes after Chegg filed a similar lawsuit earlier this year, alleging that Google's AI Overviews negatively impacted its website's traffic and profits.
The case's verdict may have a big impact on how AI-powered search and content production develop in the future.
