German Court Holds Google Liable for AI-Generated Defamation

The Regional Court of Munich ruled that Google is legally responsible for false statements produced by its AI Overview tool, which incorrectly linked two German publishing firms to scams. The court determined that AI‑generated summaries constitute original content rather than mere search results, removing the traditional safe‑harbor protection for search engines. Google has been ordered to cease publishing the defamatory claims and faces a possible fine of up to €250,000. The company plans to appeal the decision, which establishes a precedent that providers can be held accountable for independent, substantive statements generated by their artificial‑intelligence systems.