Google Pays 100 Publishers for AI Answers, The Information Reports
Google is compensating approximately 100 digital publishers for contributing content to its AI answer system, according to a report by The Information. The payments vary widely, with one early participant earning over $1 million annually, while newer contributors have made between $50,000 and $60,000.
Earnings Disparity
Several smaller sites in the pilot program have received less than $1,000 over several months. Niche topics with dedicated followings, such as anime and gaming, tend to yield higher earnings for publishers. Some larger publishers have declined to participate, hoping to leverage this into better offers from Google.
Pilot Details
The scheme, named the AI contribution pilot, was first reported by Digiday on September 14th. Google confirmed the pilot to Digiday, stating that it is testing ways to reward high-quality content. The payments are in addition to the traffic and tools Google already provides.
Regulatory and Legal Challenges
Google's AI search capabilities face ongoing scrutiny from regulators and lawsuits. The UK's competition regulator ordered Google to allow publishers to opt out of its AI features, while the European Commission is investigating their impact on web traffic. Penske Media is suing Google over AI Overviews.
Industry Reactions
Yahoo CEO Jim Lanzone stated that micropayments will never be sufficient for publishers. Lobbying efforts are also underway in Washington, with executives from over 300 news publishers advocating for a bill to ban AI stealth bots. Cloudflare previously gave AI crawlers a September deadline to pay publishers or face blocking.