Should You Avoid These Sites If You Want to Show Up in AI?

AI is driving SEOs crazy.

With seemingly new AI models dropping daily, agencies and site owners are all scrambling for answers on how and what to prioritize to appear in AI search results.

Last month, I posted about how some AI companies are forming partnerships with high-authority publishers to access their data.

At the same time, AI companies are also facing lawsuits from other media giants, leading to rampant speculation about how to approach digital PR strategy.

One of the emerging concerns is whether or not to pitch publishers currently suing these AI companies, assuming that their content will ultimately be excluded from appearing in search results.

This implies that one should no longer value coverage from The New York Times or The Globe if one prioritizes AIO.

If, on the surface, that seems nuts, refer back to this article’s opening sentence.

So, in this post, I hope to set aside some fears and clarify why it’s safe (and smart) to continue pitching as usual.

Quick Background: How AI Models Use Publisher Content

Generally speaking, AI technologies train their Large Language Models (LLMs) through a mix of data, everything from combing Reddit posts to written books to scraping blogs and news publications.

As mentioned, some AI technologies have formalized partnerships with top-tier publishers to help curate their datasets.

Looking at the other side, many publishers actively seek removal from these technologies.

Let’s look at that next.

What Publishers Are Suing AI Technologies?

Several major digital media publishers are suing AI technologies for copyright infringement.

If the publishers win, their data won’t appear in those LLMs.

For the most part, OpenAI is taking the brunt of this.

So, I’ll focus on these:

1. The New York Times

Status: Pending / Ongoing

Date of Lawsuit: December 27, 2023

In December 2023, The New York Times filed a lawsuit against OpenAI and Microsoft.

2. Tribune and MediaNews

Status: Pending / Ongoing

Date of Lawsuit: April 30, 2024

In April 2024, eight news sites owned by Tribune Publishing and MediaNews, including The New York Daily News, The Chicago Tribune, Orlando Sentinel, South Florida Sun Sentinel, The Mercury News, The Orange County Register, Twin Cities Pioneer Press, and the Denver Post, sued OpenAI and Microsoft.

3. Canadian News Publishers

Status: Pending / Ongoing

Date of Lawsuit: November 2024

In November 2024, a coalition of Canadian news outlets, including The Canadian Press, TorStar, The Globe and Mail, PostMedia, and CBC/Radio-Canada, filed a lawsuit against OpenAI.

These outlets represent over 135 publisher sites, which you can see below.

4. The Intercept, Raw Story, AlterNet

Status: Pending / Ongoing

Date of Lawsuit: February 2024

In February 2024, US-based publishers The Intercept, Raw Story, and Alternet filed a lawsuit against OpenAI.

5. Asian News International (ANI)

Status: Pending / Ongoing

Date of Lawsuit: November 2024

In November 2024, India’s largest news agency, Asian News International (ANI), filed a lawsuit against OpenAI, alleging that the company used its content without authorization to train AI models and generated false stories attributed to ANI.

6. Digital News Publishers Association (DNPA)

Status: Pending / Ongoing

Date of Lawsuit: January 2025

In January, Indian-based news organizations behind some of India’s most prominent news publications seek to join ANI’s lawsuit against OpenAI.

DNPA consists of 20 publishers, which you can see below.

These are the major players.

Should This Impact Your SEO or Digital PR Strategy?

If these lawsuits rule in favor of the publishers, AI technologies will most likely be forced to remove all content from these outlets.

In turn, links and mentions from these outlets would never appear in AI-generated search results.

Furthermore, there are fears that AI-generated search will eventually overtake traditional Google search, rendering link building obsolete.

Some experts in the field, like Gini Dietrich of Spin Sucks, have written about how this may impact some PR list building strategies.

I’m here to tell you that it shouldn’t impact your SEO or Digital PR strategy.

Here’s why:

1. This is Going to Take a While

Lawsuits take a long time.

Larry Tuchmayer, an attorney at Bergel Law, states, “Given the complexity of the issues and the large amounts of money at stake this will likely take several years to resolve.”

That’s a LOT of coverage to skip.

“A trial decision might take 2-3 years, appeals could add another 2 years or more—up to 5 years or more if it goes to the Supreme Court.

And there’s always a chance of a settlement where OpenAI might negotiate to license publishers’ works to avoid an adverse ruling.

As AI and copyright evolve this will be a big test of how courts balance innovation with intellectual property protection—impacting not only OpenAI but the whole generative AI industry.”

If OpenAI and others are ultimately required to remove copyrighted content, they will still need high-authority sources for accurate training.

AI companies may simply shift towards licensing agreements with the same high-authority publishers they are getting sued by.

If they go to court and transcripts are recovered, we may better understand how LLMs currently work, but we are just speculating, leading me to my next point.

2. We Don’t Know How to “Rank” in LLMs

No one knows how to appear in LLMs yet. We can all make assumptions, but it is much too early.

Remember, AI technology doesn’t work the same way search engines do.

Everything that SEOs and “experts” tell you right now is based on testing and inferences from earlier training models.

So, since we don’t know what we don’t know, I plan to stick to what I know, which is building links and coverage from highly relevant sources.

3. Links and Mentions Are Still Valuable for Google Search

SEOs like to say link building is less effective now.

And I agree generally.

A few years ago, links were more valuable. You could essentially build (or buy) your way into any industry through link building and lots of content. The links didn’t really even need to be all that relevant.

But, since Google started rolling out SpamBrain to tackle link spam in 2022, this approach doesn’t work anymore. (Check out my post on the most recent Link Spam Updates.)

Right now, getting quality, relevant links is more challenging because there are fewer journalists and fewer quality sites.

All of that said, links are still a major ranking factor. And if you care about Google Search, you should care about links.

That segues into my last point…

4. AI Search Adoption Is Still in Its Early Stages

If you’re worried about AI search overtaking Google Search any time soon, you can take a breath.

Google Search is still the primary traffic driver compared to ChatGPT.

Yes, ChatGPT usage is growing, but according to Similarweb, Google still gets over 2000% more traffic than ChatGPT.

This doesn’t account for AI Overviews, but AI Overviews still only appear in 1.29% of the Top 20 Results in SERPs, according to Backlinko, which had the most recent data I could find.

5. Quality Content and Brand Visibility Matter More Than AI Speculation

Ultimately, most digital PR, content marketing, and SEO campaigns aim to increase brand visibility with the right audience.

Coverage from widely read, respected, relevant publications will enhance a site’s reputation, trust, and authority regardless of AI search inclusion.

Don’t Stress These Details

It can be easy to stress headlines like these and let them disrupt your strategies. But, AI’s role in search and PR is still uncertain.

As a PR, stay the course as long as you support the brand with quality content and get covered in the places your clients and stakeholders like.

Ultimately, this “news” about copyright law shouldn’t change much for you. AI is still new, and we don’t know how this will shake out.

Plus, traditional search isn’t going anywhere anytime soon.

Get back to it!

Vince Nero

Vince is the Director of Content Marketing at Buzzstream. He thinks content marketers should solve for users, not just Google. He also loves finding creative content online. His previous work includes content marketing agency Siege Media for six years, Homebuyer.com, and The Grit Group. Outside of work, you can catch Vince running, playing with his 2 kids, enjoying some video games, or watching Phillies baseball.

More Posts by Vince Nero
Website: https://buzzstream.com