Japan Antitrust Watchdog Probes AI Search Engines Over News Content Use
Japan's Fair Trade Commission has launched a fact-finding investigation into generative AI-powered search engines, scrutinizing potential antitrust violations. The probe targets tech giants including LY Corp, Google, and Microsoft for their unauthorized use of news content in AI-generated responses.
Regulators suspect the practice may constitute abuse of dominant market position under antimonopoly laws. The investigation follows similar 2023 inquiries, reflecting growing global scrutiny of AI's impact on content ecosystems.
AI search tools threaten traditional revenue models by summarizing proprietary news content, potentially diverting traffic and ad revenue from publishers. The commission emphasizes this is an exploratory investigation rather than enforcement action.