As concerns mount in the global publishing industry over plummeting website traffic, Google has initiated the rollout of AI-generated summaries in its Discover feed.
The feature, now live for some users in the United States across both iOS and Android, replaces traditional article headlines with an AI summary accompanied by logos of multiple news outlets.
These summaries, Google says, are aimed at helping users decide which articles to click on. However, industry observers argue they may instead deter users from clicking through at all.
A Google spokesperson, speaking to TechCrunch, confirmed that the rollout is not part of a test but an official launch. The AI-generated summaries will initially focus on trending lifestyle stories, such as sports and entertainment, within the Discover feed — the personalised news panel embedded within the Google app.
Notably, the summaries come with a disclaimer that they are generated using artificial intelligence “which can make mistakes.” However, the summarised content often includes reporting from multiple sources, raising concerns about proper attribution, traffic diversion, and intellectual property use.
In addition to these summaries, Google is experimenting with other AI-driven formats. Some stories in Discover are now being presented with bullet points summarising their content or being grouped with similar coverage from other publishers — formats that also dilute individual outlets’ visibility.
For instance, a story concerning former US President Donald Trump’s alleged Ukraine deal appeared alongside links to related stories about his recent political activities. In another case, an investigative report by The Washington Post on Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) was followed by summarised bullet points, highlighting key takeaways directly below the headline.
The update comes at a time when publishers, both legacy and digital-native, are experimenting with AI tools of their own. Outlets such as The Wall Street Journal, Bloomberg, USA Today, and Yahoo are exploring various forms of AI integration on their platforms. Startups like Particle have also entered the market, offering AI-based summaries and interactive features that let users explore different angles on a story.
Despite these innovations, the wider publishing industry remains deeply uneasy about the shifting power dynamics in the digital information landscape. With AI features like Google’s AI Overviews and chat-style results now answering queries directly, users have fewer incentives to visit the original news websites.
This trend is not confined to Google alone. Tools like ChatGPT and Perplexity are also offering AI-generated summaries, increasing the prevalence of “zero-click” news consumption — where users receive information without visiting the source.
In an apparent effort to address these concerns, Google recently introduced Offerwall, a feature within Google Ad Manager that allows publishers to monetise content through alternative means. These include micropayments, newsletter signups, surveys, or ad views. However, analysts warn the measure may be too little, too late.
According to recent data from market intelligence firm Similarweb, worldwide search traffic declined by 15 per cent year-over-year as of June 2025. More alarmingly, the percentage of news-related search queries that resulted in no clicks to news websites grew from 56 per cent in May 2024 to nearly 69 per cent a year later, following the launch of AI Overviews.
Organic traffic also witnessed a sharp decline — from a peak of over 2.3 billion monthly visits in mid-2024 to less than 1.7 billion by mid-2025.
Until now, Google Discover had remained a relatively reliable source of referral traffic, especially for mobile audiences. But the increasing presence of AI summaries in the feed raises fears that even this channel may soon dry up for publishers.
