Google has been paying roughly 100 digital publishers based on how much their content contributes to AI-powered answers in search and other products, according to people familiar with the tests. The pilot program signals a further shift by the company toward paying publishers for content that appears in its search engine. Google has historically held that it should not pay publishers whose content answers users' queries, arguing that the questions direct traffic to their websites. However, the advent of AI-powered summaries, known as AI Overviews, has drastically reduced the amount of traffic Google's search refers to websites, prompting widespread complaints and lawsuits from some publishers.
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