The Regional Court of Munich issued a temporary injunction against Google, ruling the company is directly liable for false information produced by its AI Overviews.
The decision followed instances where Google’s AI falsely linked two publishers to scams and fraudulent business practices. These claims did not appear in any of the linked source materials cited by the AI.
Judges rejected limited liability protections typically granted to search engines. The court classified AI-generated summaries as Google’s own content rather than third-party results, as the company develops and offers the technology itself.
This ruling establishes that companies are responsible for the outputs of the generative AI they deploy. The decision could set a significant international precedent for the legal accountability of AI developers.