Google has been paying roughly 100 digital publishers for how much their content contributes to AI-powered answers to search and other products, according to people familiar with tests. The pilot program signals a further shift by the company toward paying publishers for content that shows up in its powerful search engine.

Google has historically taken the attitude that it shouldn’t pay publishers whose content answers users’ queries, on the grounds that the questions direct traffic to their websites. But the advent of AI-powered summaries, called AI Overviews, has drastically reduced the amount of traffic Google’s search refers to websites, prompting widespread complaints about Google, including lawsuits from some publishers.