Is AI Hurting the Bottom Line For Too Many?

LinkedIn Article, June 11, 2026

Susanna Kelland, Author

Digital Solutions Strategist & Account Manager | SMB Growth Partner | Google Certified | Digital Marketing Solutions for Local SMB Success (Residential & Commercial) | Digital Marketing for the Developing AI Era

Does Google have legal AI responsibility? Germany just said "yes". The decision was officially issued on May 28, 2026, though it only became public knowledge and hit global news cycles yesterday, June 10, 2026.

Germany found Google legally responsible for their AI Overview. They created it, the court argued, so they OWN it. The court also said "its reasoning could have international reach".

So, Big News: Google was found to be legally responsible for certain statements generated in its AI Overview, reasoning that Google created and published the content rather than merely linking to third-party sources.

How does this decision affect us? Read on for questions WE should be asking, especially if you are a business owner. It is affecting every business, from the one-person SMB to National Enterprise brands.

AI is affecting business profits and losses. It is changing how they win customers online.

AI is negatively affecting the bottom line of businesses who DON'T understand how AI works, now even more than ever. The decision influence has moved from Google providing choices (lists of company websites to browse) to Google summarizing and giving decision-making advice to potential customers!

Companies now have to understand how AI works to get cited. It's not enough anymore to just put your website out there and hope customers learn enough about you to choose you. It never was that simple, of course, but now it's even more impossibly challenging for everyone.

AI has moved Google from merely providing sources on the Search Engine Results Page (SERP) to actually providing summaries, answers, recommendations and more. Helpful? Sure. But this SIGNIFICANTLY influences buying decisions.

Businesses can be harmed not only by false information, but also by omissions, when AI fails to surface important facts, qualifications, experience, or context that would materially influence a customer's decision.

What if AI gets it "wrong"? The company who is not cited and recommended, or who is slandered with false, misleading, incomplete, or omitted information, suffers.

Feed the AI machine.

Training AI is achieved by providing it with information for the answers: company information everywhere on the web, production and service information on websites, Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs), reviews and review responses, anywhere a company is referenced.

Should businesses be solely responsible for providing the information AI requires to give a correct answer about their business, about their qualifications, about their legitimacy and ranking?

Currently it's HEAVILY on the businesses to provide PROOF of their validity and value for AI to source! Information in AI is provided by the very companies they generate overviews for: In Summaries. Assessments. Rankings. Comparisons. Criticisms. Recommendations. Citations.

Businesses are increasingly expected to provide enough evidence and authority signals for AI systems to understand who they are and what they do. AI systems learn from:

• company websites

• reviews

• news articles

• government databases

• forums

• social media

• third-party publications

Businesses have responsibilities for their online information, but AI platforms may have responsibilities too.

Is AI really the final answer?

Should it be?

If an AI-generated answer becomes the first information a customer sees, and that answer influences purchasing decisions, who should be responsible when the answer is false, incomplete, omitted, or misleading?

Is Google, or any AI-powered search or LLM platform, innocent of the results, the answers it comes up with? Is it responsible for the harm it may cause to companies by getting those answers "wrong" or "misleading" or "only part of the story"?

This is an interesting development in Germany: "Google is legally responsible for their created answer". I personally believe that companies should start to stand up to Google and other engines for misinforming their customers, disrupting the marketing messages by providing misinformation or partial information in the AI overviews.

Misinformation or partial information in AI citations and recommendations causes serious harm to business income.

AI has way too much power to sway decisions and influence buyers. Why is it HEAVILY on companies to "prove themselves" to Google and the AI chat engines? Why are AI chat engines the ones deciding who is the "best choice" for a customer looking for answers? AI even doubles down on their answer over and over again, making firm, super-confident one-size-fits-all recommendations.

Even if it's wrong! Even if it's misleading! Even if facts and nuances are missing in the answers!

Is this fair?

When AI becomes the advisor, who is responsible for the advice?

For now, it is what it is. The legal questioning has just begun. Watch the space closely!

What should I do?

• Maintain accurate website content.

• Publish FAQs (Frequently Asked Questions) that answer real customer questions.

• Monitor how AI engines describe your business. Ask questions yourself!

• Respond to reviews in a descriptive way, not just "Thanks!"

• Build third-party credibility signals - reviews, media mentions, and industry awards.

• Correct misinformation quickly when you find it.

That should set you on the right path to get better visibility, more accurate citations, and the powerful recommendations for your prospects to choose you.

I have questions, though. Should businesses be totally responsible for the information out there about them? Or should AI be more discerning and thorough when it provides the recommendation, the commentary about reputation, or the advice?

This is just the beginning of this legal push-back.

This content is original, not created with AI, and posted as a LInkedIn Article on June 11, 2026
Information about the ruling: https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2026/06/nobody-needs-ai-to-search-the-internet-court-says-in-ruling-against-google