Who Is Liable for AI-Generated Responses?

The PriDI team monitors current developments, legal proceedings, and rulings related to digitalization, data protection, AI, and Big Tech, and one key question is: Who is actually liable for AI-generated responses?

Until now, the general principle has been that traditional search engines bear only limited liability for the list of links and their content. Search engine operators were not required to proactively review these lists in advance. The search engine operator was not required to take action until it had been notified of a legal violation.

This principle does not apply to AI-generated summaries (so-called “AI Overviews”). In its ruling of May 28, 2026 (Case No. 26 O 869/26), the Munich I Regional Court ruled that Google is liable for false information in these summaries. According to the ruling by the Munich I Regional Court, an AI-generated summary, unlike a list of links constitutes more than just the provision of third-party content. The court finds that Google can control and influence the content of these summaries. Therefore, unlike the content of a list of links, Google must be held responsible for this content. The ruling is not yet final.

The PriDI project has analyzed and summarized the decision of the Munich I Regional Court. A summary in German is available here.