As publishers worry about a decline in traffic from Google, the search giant has begun rolling out an overview of Discover, the main news feed within Google's search app for iOS and Android. Now, instead of looking at the headlines from major publications, users will see logos of multiple news publishers in the top left corner, followed by an AI-generated summary citing those sources.
The app warns that these summaries are generated by AI and “can make mistakes.”
Image credit: Google
This feature has not yet been featured in all news articles within the Google app, indicating that this change is likely to still be a test. (Google has been asked to comment on the scope of the rollout, but has not responded.) In testing, TechCrunch was able to view AI summaries directly in both US iOS and Android apps.
In addition to the summary, Google has tried other ways to present news that are displayed in Discover. Although they are not flagged as being equipped with AI, some stories either contain a set of bullet points under the heading or are grouped together with similar news.
For example, Trump's talk of Ukraine deals also included links to other stories about Trump's latest actions. Meanwhile, the Washington Post's ice story was followed by bullet points summarizing the story.
Image credit: Google
The search app updates are due to many publishers experimenting with AI on their own sites, including Wall Street Journal, Yahoo, Bloomberg, USA Today, and more. Startups are also taking part in action. Like being a newsreader who uses AI to not only summarise stories with AI, but also to help users see different aspects, ask follow-up questions, and better understand the topics covered.
Despite these trials, there is a great concern in the publishing industry about how the transition to AI is affecting website traffic and referrals. Features like Google's AI Overview and AI Modes no longer require users to directly visit the website to get answers to search queries. It can be automatically summarized or shared through a chatbot-style interface. Outside of Google, this same trend can be seen in other AI apps, such as ChatGpt and Prperxity.
Recently, Google has tried to appease publishers with the launch of Opherwall, a feature that allows publishers to generate revenue beyond traffic-dependent options like advertising. Publishers using Google Ad Manager can use Offerwall to access content, such as trying out different methods and doing research into micropayments and users, signing up for newsletters, watching ads, and more.
But for many publishers, these tools are too late. Because traffic is already declining sharply.
This week's story by economists cited data from market intelligence firm Sirgalweb, and noted that as of June, global search traffic had fallen by 15% year-on-year.
Previous data from the company found that the number of news searches on the web increased from 56% to 56% in May 2024 to 69% in May 2025, resulting in a decline in organic traffic, down from over 2.3 billion visits in mid-2024 to less than 170 million visits.
During this shift, even if traffic from Google searches decreased, Google Discover still remained a source of clicks. However, if AI summaries are deployed more widely within Google apps, that may no longer be the case.