Google has been fined for training Bard on published content without notification by France’s competition watchdog for 250 million euros.

As reported by Reuters, France’s competition watchdog on Wednesday said it fined Google 250 million euros ($271.73 million) for breaches linked to EU intellectual property rules in its relationship with media publishers, citing concerns about the company’s AI service.

The watchdog said Google’s AI-powered chatbot Bard – since rebranded under the name Gemini – was trained on content from publishers and news agencies, without notifying them.

The fine is linked to a copyright dispute in France over online content in a case triggered by complaints from some of the country’s biggest news organizations, including Agence France Presse (AFP).

The company said the fine was disproportionate and said the watchdog had not sufficiently taken into account its efforts “in an environment where it’s very hard to set a course because we can’t predict which way the wind will blow next.”

However, Google has pledged not to contest the facts as part of settlement proceedings, the watchdog said, adding the company also proposed a series of remedy measures to certain shortcomings.

Google said it accepted the settlement “because it is time to move on”, adding “we want to focus on the larger goal of sustainable approaches to connecting people with quality content and on working constructively with French publishers.”

Wednesday’s decision by the French Competition Authority is the fourth in as many years against Google for failing to comply with the EU legal framework that aims to establish “necessary conditions for balanced negotiations between press agencies, publishers and digital platforms.”

The French antitrust agency had issued temporary orders to Google in April 2020 to hold talks within three months with news publishers. In 2021, the agency fined Google 500 million euros ($592 million) for failing to negotiate a fair payment for publishers’ news.

The fact that Google has been fined for training Bard on published content without notification is a wake-up call for other companies using published content to train their models. Not only will they see lawsuits – like the case involving The New York Times against OpenAI – but the antitrust agencies are watching too. Expect more fines in the future.

So, what do you think? Are you surprised that Google has been fined for training Bard on published content without notification? Please share any comments you might have or if you’d like to know more about a particular topic.

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