As an American company, Google has direct legal responsibility for the content of its AI-generated search summaries (AI summaries). The Bavarian capital’s regional court on Friday announced a verdict handed down on May 28 in a lawsuit brought by two Munich publishers. UNN This was reported as information from DW.
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The ruling states that AI-generated search result summaries (Google AI summaries) falsely link publishers to fraud, opaque subscription schemes, and questionable business practices. In these AI summaries, the AI mixed information about the plaintiff with data about other truly questionable companies, creating connections that did not exist in the sources used.
Google claimed that it is not responsible for the data processing itself or for third-party content used in the process. The court clearly rejected this argument, holding that the AI summary placed at the top of search results is independent content for which search engine operators are responsible, rather than simply displaying search results and their links.
The court noted that because the AI summarizes the results, evaluates the content of the sources and presents them in a structured format, Google thereby completely independently makes new statements that go beyond simply providing links. On this basis, the case law of the German Federal Court of Justice (BGH), which exempts search engine operators from direct liability for simply displaying links to third-party content, does not apply in this case.
The court also rejected Google’s evidence that users can independently verify sources via links and that it recognized the inappropriateness of “blindly trusting AI-generated information.” The court emphasized that the AI summary is “a self-contained statement, meaning its content is clear without additional explanation.” Moreover, the AI summary does not suggest that the information may be unreliable, the Munich court added.
In response to the court’s decision, a Google spokesperson said the company has “invested significantly in the quality of its AI summaries to ensure the accuracy of information in the majority of responses.” The company said it would carefully consider the court’s decision.
The preliminary injunction prohibits the U.S. search engine company from distributing false statements about the plaintiffs in AI summaries and requires reimbursement of 80% of the lawsuit’s costs. This decision could set a precedent in the digital field. The decision is not yet legally binding, as Google has the right to appeal.
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