Rolling Stone publisher sues Google over AI-generated summaries
Penske Media Corporation, the publisher behind major entertainment brands like Rolling Stone, Variety and The Hollywood Reporter, is suing Google over its use of artificial intelligence-generated summaries that appear in search results. The corporation alleges that the summaries reduce user traffic to its websites, damage its business and undermine the broader ecosystem of journalism.
Penske alleges AI summaries are hurting business
The lawsuit, filed in federal court in Washington, D.C., targets both Google and its parent company, Alphabet. Penske is seeking monetary damages and a permanent injunction against the continued use of these AI overviews.
At the center of the complaint is Google’s AI-generated content that appears when users search a topic. These summaries often display direct answers pulled from across the web, along with links. But Penske argues that users often get the information they need without ever clicking through.
According to the Wall Street Journal, Penske claims about 20% of its brand search results now include an AI-generated overview — leading to a significant drop in site traffic and engagement.
In the complaint, Penske cites a 33% decline in affiliate shopping traffic in 2025 alone, attributing it in part to AI summaries that keep users on the search page.
In a statement, the company wrote, “Siphoning and discouraging user traffic to PMC’s and other publishers’ websites in this manner will have profoundly harmful effects on the overall quality and quantity of the information accessible on the internet.“
The lawsuit also criticizes Google for using publisher content without compensation while acknowledging that blocking Google entirely from indexing Penske sites would also hurt business.
‘We’ll defend against these meritless claims’
Google spokesman Jose Castaneda responded to the lawsuit, saying AI overviews help users find information more efficiently and expand content discovery.
“Every day Google sends billions of clicks to sites across the web, and AI overviews send traffic to a greater diversity of sites,” Castaneda said. “We will defend against these meritless claims. “
Google has recently expanded its search functionality with a new feature called AI Mode, integrating summaries into more user queries.
Penske joins a growing list of media lawsuits
While Penske is the first major U.S. news company to sue Google specifically over AI summaries, it’s far from alone in challenging AI use in publishing.
Online education company Chegg has also filed suit over AI overviews.
Meanwhile, The Wall Street Journal and the New York Post have sued Perplexity, while The New York Times has sued OpenAI and Microsoft.
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Ella Rae Greene, Editor In Chief
