Google switched on AI Overviews and AI Mode in France on Wednesday, after rolling both out across much of Europe in 2024 and 2025. France managing director Sébastien Missoffe told AFP that regulatory hurdles had kept the features out and that Google believes it has cleared them. Google wrote to French publishers in early July saying the AI summaries will count toward payment under neighbouring rights, the law requiring platforms to pay for reusing news content, and publishers can keep their material out of both features without losing standard search placement. Google has signed neighbouring-rights deals with 450 French news publishers so far. Pew Research found last July that users click a result about half as often when an AI summary sits above it, and one regional press executive told AFP the launch will cost 30% of its Google traffic.
