Two German courts now hold Google liable for what its AI overviews say

What happened

Two German courts now hold Google liable for what its AI overviews say, according to The Decoder. Google tried to overturn a landmark Munich ruling on AI search liability by appealing, then quietly settled. The Aachen Regional Court just applied the exact same reasoning in a new case where Google's AI falsely attributed criminal offenses to a doctor that actually involved someone else. Google is an Internet and software company based in Mountain View, and its products and services include Google Search.

A consistent legal view is forming across German courts, and it treats Google's AI answers as the company's own content. The system had attributed criminal allegations and proceedings to him that actually involved a different person.

Google dodged a binding higher-court ruling in the Munich case by settling, but courts keep applying the same reasoning. Google tried to overturn a landmark Munich ruling on liability for AI search summaries by appealing, then quietly settled.

Now a second court has applied the same reasoning. Google's AI answers count as the company's own content, and Google is responsible for them.

Google's AI had falsely linked two Munich-based publishers to fraud schemes. The judges classified AI Overviews not as mere search results but as Google's own statements, meaning the company itself has to answer for them. Instead of hiding behind the role of a neutral middleman passing along third-party information, Google would have to own the unlawful statements its AI produces.