US Senators Push for Investigation into Generative AI Over Antitrust Concerns

U.S. Senators, led by Amy Klobuchar, have formally asked the Department of Justice (DOJ) and the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) to examine generative AI tools used by major tech companies like Google and Meta for potential antitrust violations.

In a letter addressed to FTC Chair Lina Khan and Assistant Attorney General Jonathan Kanter, the senators argued that such AI tools may misuse content created by third parties, such as journalists, without providing compensation. They expressed concerns about how these tools reproduce online content without directing users to the original sources.

The letter states that the AI software incorporated into search platforms answer users’ questions by summarizing or reproducing existing content from other websites. The senators contend that this practice keeps users on the platform, allowing companies to earn advertising revenue without sharing any benefits with the original content creators.

“Instead of taking users to publishers’ sites, AI-generated summaries keep users on the search platform,” the senators wrote. They argued that this conduct could be seen as anti-competitive, reducing innovation and competition in digital content creation.

The letter highlighted that some AI features effectively use third-party content and present it as newly generated, which the senators believe exacerbates the problem. They suggest that the DOJ and FTC investigate whether these practices include exclusionary conduct and unfair competition under U.S. antitrust laws.

The senators also pointed out the challenges facing local news outlets due to the increased use of generative AI. Recent research shows that about 2,900 newspapers have shut down in the United States in recent years.

“A third of the newspapers that existed in 2005 will likely cease to exist by the end of this year,” the letter noted. The lawmakers suggested that AI tools further strain these local news organizations by exploiting news content without contributing to the sustainability of local journalism.

The letter references a lawsuit The New York Times filed last year against OpenAI and Microsoft, accusing them of using its articles as training material for AI models without permission. The senators describe this as a “free ride” issue, where AI systems exploit significant investments in journalism without compensating the creators. They call for a thorough investigation to determine if these AI features involve unfair competition practices that could violate antitrust laws.

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