Technologies

Google’s AI Overviews ‘Misconduct’ Undermines Publishers Who Create Content, Lawsuit Says

Penske Media, which publishes Rolling Stone, Billboard, ArtForum and others, says that AI Overviews in Google search stymie their traffic, undercut their revenue and mean less content for consumers.

Penske Media, which owns publications including Rolling Stone, Variety and Billboard, is suing Google, alleging that the search giant is illegally using their content and that of other publishers to fill out the AI Overviews that have become a fixture at the top of Google search results.

In a lawsuit filed Friday in US District Court for the District of Columbia, Penske argues that Google’s «misconduct» through its monopoly in online search has coerced publishers to acquiesce to misappropriation of their content, diverting readers away from publishers’ own sites and depriving them of the ability to earn money from content created by their journalists.

«It is reasonably foreseeable that Google’s forced entry into the online publishing output market will result in less traffic to other online publishers, less revenue to the online publishers that actually generate their own content, and, as a result, less online publishing content for consumers,» Penske’s complaint says.

In 2024, that same district court ruled that Google illegally protects its search monopoly. Earlier this month, Judge Amit Mehta issued the penalty finding in that case, saying that the company must share some of its search data with competitors.

Google on Monday pushed back against Penske’s lawsuit, saying that it is providing a valuable service.

«Every day, Google sends billions of clicks to sites across the web, and AI Overviews send traffic to a greater diversity of sites,» said José Castañeda, a policy communications manager at Google. «We will defend against these meritless claims.»

Penske didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment. The company also publishes The Hollywood Reporter, Indiewire, WWD (Women’s Wear Daily), ArtNews, ArtForum and others.

For decades, there’s been a mutual relationship between online publishers and Google. By indexing sites across the internet, the search giant can deliver up-to-date and relevant information for people’s queries. In exchange for letting Google — which has a nearly 90% share of the search market — crawl their sites, publishers get traffic through those search results, as long as people have reason to click through.

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With the advent of generative AI tools like OpenAI’s ChatGPT and Google’s Gemini, however, that relationship is changing. Instead of you having to take the time to scour through lists of links, and then read through a selection of articles and webpages, you get a neatly synthesized summary in seconds that combines information from the AI tools’ training data and directly from the web.

A wide spectrum of publishers and authors has contended that AI companies trained their AI models without proper licensing and are profiting from high-quality human-made content. For that reason, some have sued OpenAI, Perplexity, Anthropic, Microsoft and Google. (Disclosure: Ziff Davis, CNET’s parent company, in April filed a lawsuit against OpenAI, alleging it infringed Ziff Davis copyrights in training and operating its AI systems.)

Meanwhile, data shows that whenever AI Overviews appear in search, there is a noticeable drop in clickthrough rate to the source material. Google claims that AI sends «higher quality clicks» to sites, meaning those visitors stay on those sites longer with more engagement.

The outcome of the Penske lawsuit will likely have significant implications for publishers and AI companies, including Google.

«If Penske wins, it would likely lead to platforms needing to negotiate licensing deals with publishers for the right to include summaries in search or overview features,» said Robert Rosenberg, an intellectual property partner at Moses Singer, a New York-based firm.

A ruling might also dictate what is considered «transformative» work — that is, not subject to copyright protections — or could lead to further regulatory pressure on Google, Rosenberg said. «This case highlights how dominant platforms can impose their own terms because of their scale.»

Technologies

Wyze’s New Palm Lock Recognizes the Veins in Your Hand

The biometric lock also includes a numbered keypad, Wi-Fi controls and a mechanical lock and key.

Wyze’s latest home security product locks your home and turns you into the key. The Palm Lock features hand-scanning biometric technology that can read the unique pattern of veins underneath your skin to unlock the door.

The new smart lock mechanism works by having homeowners hover their hand in front of the reader to disengage the Palm Lock. Wyze says this technology will be quicker to use than fingerprint scanners.

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The company’s co-founder and CMO, Dave Crosby, likened the process to creating a «secret handshake with [your] front door.» You must upload separate vein scans if you have multiple people in your house. No two «secret handshakes» are the same. Any biometric data is stored on-device, and Wyze says your palm print isn’t uploaded to the app or the cloud.

If you’re skeptical about locking up using only the veins in your hand, the Palm Lock includes other methods of entry. If it can’t read your palm for whatever reason, you won’t necessarily be locked out of your house.

Users can unlock the Palm Lock through Wi-Fi controls on the Wyze app or the old-fashioned way, with a physical key. Homeowners can also generate limited-time codes that guests can punch on the numbered keypad, giving visitor access a built-in expiration date.

The lock works in tandem with any Wyze video doorbells you already have.

The lock has a built-in gyroscope that automatically locks the door when it detects it being closed, and an alarm will also go off if you leave the door ajar. The Palm Lock interfaces with common voice assistants, such as Amazon Alexa and Google Assistant.

Wyze says its batteries last for up to six months. If the lock’s batteries die, a USB-C charging port will bring the Palm Lock back to life until you can swap them out.

The Wyze Palm Lock is available now on Wyze’s website for $130.

Technologies

Costco Recalls Prosecco That Could Shatter, Even Without Being Touched

The retail warehouse chain has issued specific instructions on how to dispose of the bottles.

If you recently purchased a bottle of prosecco at Costco, check the brand immediately. The massive warehouse-club retail chain has issued a recall for certain bottles of its Kirkland Signature Prosecco Valdobbiadene, reporting that the bottles could shatter without even being touched.

Costco sent a letter to customers who bought the product between April 25 and Aug. 25 this year in Iowa, Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, North Dakota, Nebraska, Ohio, South Dakota and Wisconsin.

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The letter asks customers not to return the bottle to Costco stores, but instead bring the letter into a store for a refund. For safety reasons, Costco says you should wrap unopened bottles in paper towels and place them in a plastic bag before putting that bag in the garbage.

The company did not say if any consumers have been injured by the bottles. A representative for Costco did not immediately respond to a request for further comment.

Technologies

Today’s NYT Connections Hints, Answers and Help for Sept. 17, #829

Here are some hints and the answers for the NYT Connections puzzle for Sept. 17, #829.

Looking for the most recent Connections answers? Click here for today’s Connections hints, as well as our daily answers and hints for The New York Times Mini Crossword, Wordle, Connections: Sports Edition and Strands puzzles.

Today’s NYT Connections puzzle is a fun mix. I especially liked the purple category, since I have fond memories of watching all four of those answers. Read on for clues and today’s Connections answers.

The Times now has a Connections Bot, like the one for Wordle. Go there after you play to receive a numeric score and to have the program analyze your answers. Players who are registered with the Times Games section can now nerd out by following their progress, including the number of puzzles completed, win rate, number of times they nabbed a perfect score and their win streak.

Read more: Hints, Tips and Strategies to Help You Win at NYT Connections Every Time

Hints for today’s Connections groups

Here are four hints for the groupings in today’s Connections puzzle, ranked from the easiest yellow group to the tough (and sometimes bizarre) purple group.

Yellow group hint: They wave or spin around.

Green group hint: On second thought…

Blue group hint: Shove it in there.

Purple group hint: TV for tots.