Google's AI search harms students with 'low-quality, unverified' summaries, Chegg claims

Chegg has officially filed a lawsuit against Google, accusing the tech giant of unfairly diverting traffic from educational publishers with its AI-powered search results. In a recent Q4 earnings call, the ed-tech company claimed that Google's AI Overviews, which provide instant, AI-generated answers at the top of search results, are negatively impacting student learning and the online education ecosystem.

"Google AIO has transformed Google from a 'search engine' into an 'answer engine,' displaying AI-generated content sourced from third-party sites like Chegg," said Chegg CEO Nathan Schultz

The lawsuit, filed in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, argues that Google's AI Overviews unfairly retain traffic that would typically go to Chegg and other content providers. Chegg claims this practice is harming students by reducing access to step-by-step educational resources, replacing them with low-quality, unverified AI summaries.

"We believe this isn't just about Chegg - it's about students losing access to quality, step-by-step learning in favor of low-quality, unverified AI summaries." Schultz said.

However, Chegg has been no stranger to controversy in the past. The company has been criticized for enabling cheating, with students using its study resources to access test answers and homework solutions rather than learning the material. Some universities have even blocked Chegg due to concerns that it facilitates academic dishonesty.

On the flip side, AI summaries presented by companies like Google and OpenAI have been known for their unreliable, and sometimes baffling outputs. A BBC study found that 1 in 5 AI news summaries introduced factual errors, and Apple notably shut down their AI news feature last month for similar reasons.

While the outcome will be up to the Colombian district court, one thing's for certain: AI will only continue to disrupt the lives of students and businesses alike.

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