Google is piloting AI-generated article overviews on selected publications’ Google News pages as part of a new collaboration program, the company revealed on Wednesday.
Participating outlets in the pilot include Der Spiegel, El País, Folha, Infobae, Kompas, The Guardian, The Times of India, The Washington Examiner, and The Washington Post, among others.
Google describes the initiative as a commercial partnership to investigate how artificial intelligence can help build more engaged audiences. Through the AI pilot, publishers will collaborate with Google to test new features within Google News.
The new AI-powered overviews aim to give users more context before they click through to read an article. While AI-generated summaries could diminish click-through rates for some stories, participating publishers will receive direct payments from Google to offset potential traffic declines.
The AI overviews will appear only on the participating publications’ Google News pages, not elsewhere on Google News or in Search.
This isn’t Google’s first foray into AI summaries for news. In July, the company rolled out AI summaries in Discover, the main news feed inside Google’s search app, where users encounter AI-generated summaries alongside source logos instead of a single headline from a major outlet.
The company is also testing audio briefings for listeners who prefer spoken news as part of the same pilot.
The event, Techcrunch coverage, notes that the features will include clear attribution and links to original articles.
Additionally, Google is partnering with Estadão, Antara, Yonhap, and The Associated Press to integrate real-time information and boost results within the Gemini app.
Google stated in its blog that as information consumption evolves, it will continue refining its products with feedback from a broad range of stakeholders, collaborating with websites and creators of all sizes—from major publishers to new voices.
Concurrent with the announcement, Google introduced its global rollout of the Preferred Sources feature, which lets users prioritize favorite news sites and blogs in the Top Stories section of Google search results. After an initial U.S. and India rollout in August, the feature will become available to English-language users worldwide in the coming days and to all supported languages early next year.
The company will also highlight links from users’ news subscriptions in a dedicated carousel within the Gemini app, with AI Overviews and AI Mode slated for later adoption.
While these enhancements make it easier to access preferred news sources, they also raise concerns about potential echo chambers that limit exposure to diverse viewpoints.
Google also announced more inline links in AI Mode and introduced contextual introductions for embedded links—brief explanations about why a link might be worth exploring.
Aisha Malik, a consumer-news reporter at TechCrunch, joined the publication in 2021 after reporting on telecom at MobileSyrup. She holds an honors bachelor’s degree from the University of Toronto and a master’s in journalism from Western University.
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