Google steps up subscription initiatives for publishers as it transitions to AI-driven search

Google’s increased efforts to aid news publishers’ subscription and reader revenue initiatives could help keep publishers onside as it transitions its core search product to emphasize AI-driven responses. Last week, Google unveiled plans to provide AI-generated answers to users’ queries within search results pages. If rolled out widely, the change could significantly reduce the volume of traffic the search giant sends to third-party sites and may prompt publishers to attempt to limit Google’s access to their content if they feel a value exchange is lacking. It's clear a shift to AI search results threatens to upend some publishers’ business models, but it remains likely that Google will value ongoing access to publishers’ content to help inform timely, high-quality respon