Google said it was working on new search options to allow websites to opt out of its generative AI capabilities as ‌the U.S. technology giant tried to soothe the British competition regulator over its control of the search services market.

Another suggestion that the company came up with on 18th March in a statement was a less intrusive switch in the settings of a user within their device, to enable them to change the default search engine and not the frequent pop-ups, which the company claimed would irritate users.

In October, the Competition and Markets Authority of Britain established Google with strategic market status in the search service industry, which implied that the regulator would come in and guarantee effective competition in the industry. ​It then began a consultation process over the same with all interested parties.

Google, with over 90 per cent of the UK search traffic, depends on the content its search crawler gathers to create its AI Overviews and AI mode and discrete products, such as its Gemini AI assistant.

The News Media Association, which represents national and local news media in the UK, in its reply to the CMA consultation, claimed that there was a requirement to enhance complaints management and other requirements on fair ranking.

It said in a statement posted on the CMA website on Wednesday that publishers must be certain that “not adopting AI will not lead to a decrease in general search via knock-on effects.”

‘DISPROPORTIONATE CONSEQUENCES’ FOR USERS?

In January, the UK regulator proposed a set of actions to help enhance business and consumer choices, such as authorising publishers to decide whether their material might be used in AI Overviews or train standalone AI models.

It also desired to make sure that search results ranking was fair and transparent, and made it easier to switch to other search engines.

The click-through rate in news websites and other publishers has fallen sharply due to users using an overview of the news created with the aid of skimming robots.

Google, in its own submission to the regulator on the consultation, also available on the CMA website, stated that some of the suggested conduct requirements have “disproportionate and harmful effects” on users, publishers and businesses and its “capacity to innovate and invest in the UK.”

Google indicated that it would keep collaborating with the CMA to identify solutions in a “constructive manner that can serve the users, publishers and businesses throughout the UK.”