A UK regulator has ordered Google to display clearer attribution links in AI Overviews and give British publishers a formal mechanism to exclude their content from the feature.
Google argued during proceedings that users simply don't want "lots of sources" in their search results. The regulator didn't accept that framing. Under the order, AI-generated summaries must now surface more visible links to underlying sources, and publishers gain a formal route to opt their work out of the feature.
Google's defense is worth dwelling on. "Users prefer fewer sources" is a UX argument that also, conveniently, describes the outcome Google most profits from: keeping eyeballs on Google rather than sending them to publisher sites. For publishers, a working opt-out matters because it shifts the default, replacing the need to chase down removal requests with a guaranteed off-ramp.
Attribution pressure on AI search has been building across jurisdictions, but this order, targeted at one product behavior rather than a broad market ruling, may prove the easiest template for other regulators to copy.