Archive · 15 Sep 2025
People Inc. CEO Calls Out Google Over AI Content Practices
The CEO of People Inc.
(the owner of many online publications) is upset with Google.
He says Google uses articles to power its AI tools without permission and doesn't pay for them.
He claims Google is using a single program to both search the web (where they share traffic) and take content for its AI tools (where they do not).
He says Google is now taking more content because the amount of traffic sent from Google to the publishers is decreasing.
People Inc.
is now blocking AI programs from accessing their content unless they pay.
Other people also agree that Google is taking content without permission.
People Inc. CEO, Neil Vogel, accuses Google of content misuse for AI.
Vogel calls Google an 'intentional bad actor'.
Google's share of web traffic to People Inc. has decreased.
People Inc. blocks AI crawlers to negotiate content deals.
Cloudflare CEO predicts Google will have to pay content creators.
- Who
- Neil Vogel, CEO of People Inc. and Google
- What
- Vogel accuses Google of misusing publisher content for AI.
- When
- Fortune Brainstorm Tech conference
- Where
- Not specified
- Why
- Google uses a single crawler for search and AI, allegedly 'stealing' content.
People Inc.'s Perspective
Google's Implied Perspective
Content Use
People Inc.'s Perspective
Google is taking content to compete with publishers without fair compensation.
Google's Implied Perspective
Not explicitly stated, but implied that Google's practices are acceptable.
Traffic Distribution
People Inc.'s Perspective
Google's reduced referral traffic hurts publishers.
Google's Implied Perspective
Not explicitly stated, but Google likely benefits from its use of content.
- Company
- People Inc. (formerly Dotdash Meredith)
- CEO of People Inc.
- Neil Vogel
- Google's Alleged Action
- Misuse of publisher content for AI
- Vogel's Term for Google
- "Intentional bad actor"
- Partnership
- People Inc. with Cloudflare to block AI crawlers
- Partnered AI company
- OpenAI
