Google is piloting AI-generated article summaries on select publications’ Google News pages, aiming to provide users with more context before clicking through to full articles. The test includes major global publications such as The Guardian, Der Spiegel, El País, Folha, Infobae, Kompas, The Times of India, The Washington Examiner, and The Washington Post.
According to the company, the AI-powered overviews are part of a commercial partnership program designed to explore how AI can drive more engaged audiences while compensating publishers for potential decreases in traffic. Participating publications will receive direct payments from Google for their involvement in the pilot.
The overviews appear exclusively on participating publications’ Google News pages and are accompanied by clear source attribution and links to the original articles. This feature is an evolution of Google’s prior AI efforts, including AI summaries in Google Discover, which launched in July 2025, and audio news briefings. The company says these innovations are part of its broader strategy to improve news consumption while supporting publishers financially.
Google is also enhancing its Gemini app through partnerships with organizations such as Estadão, Antara, Yonhap, and The Associated Press, incorporating real-time news updates and AI-driven contextual content.
In addition to AI overviews, Google is expanding its “Preferred Sources” feature globally. Launched earlier in the U.S. and India, this feature allows users to prioritize news from selected sites and blogs in the Top Stories section of search results. Soon, links from news subscriptions will appear in a dedicated carousel in the Gemini app, alongside AI Overviews and AI Mode features.
While these tools aim to simplify access to trusted news sources, experts caution that prioritizing preferred sources and AI-generated summaries may increase the risk of users being confined to echo chambers. To address this, Google is also introducing “contextual introductions” for embedded links, providing brief explanations of why a link may be relevant.
By integrating AI into news consumption, Google is signaling its commitment to evolving how people interact with information, balancing innovation with publisher support and user choice.
