The UK’s Competition and Markets Authority on Wednesday unveiled a detailed proposal aimed at ensuring that publishers receive equitable compensation for the use of their content in Google’s AI-driven search overviews. Under the draft measures, Google would be required to negotiate licensing terms with news publishers, with the regulator empowered to arbitrate payment rates if parties cannot reach an agreement within three months. The CMA estimates that UK publishers could see incremental annual revenues of £50 million to £70 million from these arrangements. Additionally, Google must provide transparent reporting on how publisher content is selected and prioritized within AI-generated summaries, with quarterly audits delivered to the regulator for five years.

Over the past quarter, Google has completed three targeted acquisitions and talent agreements valued at a combined $650 million to enhance its Gemini AI suite. In December, it acquired Common Sense Machines for approximately $200 million, bringing proprietary 3D-image generation models that convert 2D inputs into spatially consistent assets. In January, the core team of Hume AI joined DeepMind under a licensing deal worth $150 million, integrating advanced emotional-intelligence speech models. Google also took a minority equity stake of $300 million in Japan’s Sakana AI to co-develop multilingual, region-specific model architectures—an initiative expected to increase Gemini’s adoption in Asia by 30% in 2026.

Brussels has launched “specification proceedings” under the Digital Markets Act to define how Google must grant rival AI firms and search engines “equally effective access” to its Gemini services and Search data. The European Commission’s six-month process will detail technical standards for API access, data-query limits, and integration protocols. Should Google fail to implement the forthcoming measures, it faces fines up to 10% of global turnover. The specification will also clarify eligibility for AI chatbot providers to ingest Search queries directly, a practice that EU officials estimate could influence up to 15 percent of online advertising revenues in the bloc.