Google: Open Access Research Is in "Rapid Decline"

Google has acknowledged that open-access research is in “rapid decline,” despite denying it in recent months and even arguing that Artificial Intelligence (AI) capabilities were driving online traffic.

“The open web is already in rapid decline,” Google said in a court document addressing its alleged monopoly in the advertising technology business, Europa Press reports.

The US Department of Justice has recommended that Google sell this part of the business, a proposal that, according to the technology company, “will accelerate this decline, harming publishers that currently depend on revenue from display advertising on the open web.”

In August, the technology giant responded to criticism and reports that web traffic had declined due to the implementation of AI features in search engines, claiming that quality clicks had increased.

At the time, and without sharing data, Google assured that the total organic volume of clicks (when users click on links that the search engine offers in its results) had remained the same year-on-year, but that the average number of quality clicks (those in which people remain on the page for a certain period) had increased.

In recent times, the technology company has been implementing search features in the search engine, such as AI summaries displayed at the beginning of a search or AI search mode ( AI Mode ).

By offering a quick response, these features reduce user interaction, as users no longer feel the need to access websites to obtain the information they seek.

Recently, a Pew Research Center report analyzed data from 900 American adults, concluding that six in ten respondents (58%) had conducted at least one Google search that produced an AI-generated summary.