Chegg sues Google for hurting traffic with AI as it considers strategic alternatives

Chegg sues Google over AI-generated information blurbs in searches

Chgg on Monday filed suit in federal district court against Googleclaiming that man made intelligence summaries of search results dangle hurt the to find training company’s web utter visitors and income.

The valid circulate comes nearly two years after outdated CEO Dan Rosensweig acknowledged college students sexy with OpenAI’s ChatGPT assistant had been chopping into Chegg’s new customer negate.

Chegg is charge not up to $200 million, and in after-hours trading Monday, the stock became trading honest above $1 per share. Chegg has engaged Goldman Sachs and will sight at strategic choices, including getting bought and going non-public, President and CEO Nathan Schultz informed analysts on a Monday earnings call.

Chegg reported a $6.1 million to find loss on $143.5 million in fourth-quarter income, a 24% decline 365 days over 365 days, basically based on a assertion. Analysts polled by LSEG had expected $142.1 million in income. Management known as for first-quarter income between $114 million and $116 million, but analysts had been targeting $138.1 million. The stock became down 24% in prolonged trading.

Google forces firms love Chegg to “supply our proprietary content in order to be included in Google’s search function,” acknowledged Schultz, adding that the hunt company makes use of its monopoly energy, “reaping the financial benefits of Chegg’s content without having to spend a dime.”

Regardless of the suit, Chegg has its dangle AI technique. It has drawn on Meta’s originate-source Llama, as successfully as models from privately held Anthropic and Mistral, Schultz acknowledged. Chegg has furthermore partnered with OpenAI, which the learning company views as a competitor, alongside Google. The corporate reported that 3.6 million college students had subscriptions within the fourth quarter, down 21%. Subscriptions comprise accept admission to to AI-powered learning help. Chegg furthermore rents and sells textbooks.

AI Overviews, as Google’s man made intelligence summaries are known as, are on hand within the company’s search engine in more than 100 worldwide locations, with over 1 billion customers, the company acknowledged in October. They present up above hyperlinks to diversified pages in search results.

A Google spokesperson informed CNBC that the company will protect itself against Chegg’s suit, which asserted that the hunt company violated sections one and two of the Sherman Antitrust Act of 1890.

“Every day, Google sends billions of clicks to sites across the web, and AI Overviews send traffic to a greater diversity of sites,” the Google spokesperson acknowledged.

Chegg claimed that Google drew on Chegg’s assortment of 135 million questions and solutions on a differ of subjects in its model coaching files sets.

After coaching its models, Google can generate utter material that competes with files that publishers dangle on supply in search results, Chegg argued in its criticism. The online learning company included a screenshot of a Google AI Overview that borrows particulars from Chegg’s net role but does not attribute the tips. Then another time, the relevant Chegg net page does present up lower down in search results.

Chegg cited a federal settle on’s ruling closing August that Googleholds a monopoly within the hunt market. The option came after the Department of Justice in 2020 filed its landmark casealleging that Google controlled the fashioned search market by developing solid boundaries to entry and a solutions loop that sustained its dominance.

Don’t miss these insights from CNBC PRO

Google unrolls AI Overviews in six more countries

Be taught More

Scroll to Top