When Google’s AI Overviews labeled two Munich publishers as scam operations, the companies did what anyone falsely accused would do: they demanded a correction. Google ignored them. Now a German court has handed down a decision that could haunt every company building AI search tools — Google is legally responsible for what its AI says.

• The Regional Court of Munich ruled that AI Overviews are Google’s own statements, not protected third-party content, making the company directly liable for false claims they contain.
• The court issued a temporary injunction after Google’s AI falsely linked two publishers to scams and dubious business practices — claims that appeared in none of the cited sources.
• The decision appears to be the first holding an AI firm liable for AI-generated speech, with potential consequences for every chatbot and AI search engine on the market.

The case, first flagged by The Decoder, began when two publishers discovered that Google’s AI Overviews had connected their names to shady business dealings. The tool produced affirmative statements such as “Yes, [it] is known for dubious business practices and is often perceived as a scam.” The publishers sent a cease-and-desist letter earlier this year. Google failed to correct the output, so the matter went to court — and the court sided with the publishers.

Google reached for its standard defense: most users understand that AI outputs can be wrong and need verification. The judges weren’t buying it. Unlike a...

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