EU Antitrust Probe into Google’s AI Use Risks Locking in the Status Quo, Says Center for Data Innovation

WASHINGTON—In response to the European Commission opening a formal antitrust investigation into Google’s use of web and YouTube content for AI services, the Center for Data Innovation issued the following statement from Director Daniel Castro:

The Commission’s theory of harm would freeze search innovation in place. By insisting that Google offer every website an “opt-out” from AI-generated overviews, Brussels is effectively saying the most widely used search engine in Europe must stop using modern AI tools—even as smaller rivals remain free to do so. That is not a recipe for competition; it is a recipe for stagnation. Search will not improve if regulators prohibit leading firms from deploying the very technologies that make results more useful.

The Commission’s concerns about YouTube make even less sense. Content creators voluntarily upload videos under terms that already allow Google to improve its services, including through AI training. Calling this coercive simply because YouTube is popular turns basic platform governance into an antitrust violation. And while there is a broader debate about whether companies should restrict AI training through their terms of service, singling out one platform while ignoring others would only distort the market further.

Instead of punishing firms for using AI lawfully and transparently, EU policymakers should focus on enabling Europe’s own innovators to compete and allowing European consumers to access leading AI services. Europe will not come out ahead in AI by constraining the companies that are actually building it.

Contact: Nicole Hinojosa, [email protected]