According to Chegg, Google's AI-generated search results have reduced the number of visitors to the company's website, leading to a decline in revenue.
The lawsuit has been filed in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia. Chegg accuses Google of engaging in unfair competition and unjustly profiting from others' content. The company claims that Google forces other companies to make their content available for inclusion in its search system. However, since users read Google's AI-generated summaries, they do not visit the original sources, such as Chegg’s website. As a result, Google leverages others' content to enhance its AI-driven services and generate profit, while the source websites experience a drop in traffic and revenue.
Chegg is demanding that the court put an end to Google's practices and compensate the company for its losses.
This issue is not unique to Chegg. Several news websites have also claimed that Google’s AI summaries negatively impact their traffic. According to them, Google extracts content from various websites and presents it directly in its AI-generated summaries. Consequently, users no longer feel the need to visit the original sources, as Google provides the necessary information upfront.
