UK Publishers Urge Regulator to Exclude AI Chatbots from Search Engine Choice Screen

UK publishers are actively lobbying the country's competition regulator, the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA), to prevent AI-powered chatbots like ChatGPT and Perplexity from being listed on Google's upcoming search engine choice screen. This screen is mandated under the Digital Markets, Competition and Consumers Act (DMCCA) to offer users a selection of default search engines.

The publishers' argument centers on the fundamental difference between traditional search engines and AI chatbots. While search engines typically provide a list of links that direct users to external websites, thereby driving traffic to publishers, AI chatbots answer queries directly within their own interface. This bypasses the need for users to click through to publisher sites, potentially decimating referral traffic and impacting revenue streams. The core of the dispute lies in defining what constitutes a "search engine" in the evolving digital landscape – whether it is a tool that ranks and returns links or one that provides direct answers.