In August, the court decided that Google illegally monopolized the search engine market. Department of Justice USA wants the company Alphabet was obliged to introduce specific measures related to artificial intelligence and smartphone operating system Android – reports Bloomberg. Antitrust officials also plan to recommend that federal judge Amit Mehta impose data licensing requirements.
Will the court break up the Google corporation?
If Mehta accepts these proposals, they could transform the online search market and the burgeoning artificial intelligence industry. The case was filed during the first administration Trump and continued under President Joe Biden. It’s the most aggressive attempt to stop the tech company since Washington tried unsuccessfully to break it up Microsoft two decades ago.
Google uses Chrome to develop Gemini
Having the most popular web browser in the world is crucial to Google’s advertising business. The company is able to see the activity of logged-in users and use that data to more effectively target the ads that generate most of its revenue. Google also uses Chrome to direct users to its flagship AI product, Geminiwhich has the potential to evolve from a bot to an assistant that follows users around the web.
Chrome worth at least $20 billion
If the sale goes through, Chrome would be worth “at least $15-20 billion given that it has over 3 billion monthly active users,” Bloomberg Intelligence analyst Mandeep Singh said. Antitrust regulators want a judge to order Google to sell Chrome because, as the world’s most used browser, it is a key access point through which many people use the search engine. The Chrome browser controls about 61% of the U.S. market, according to StatCounter, a web traffic analysis service.
Google doesn’t have to sell Android
Antitrust officials have backed away from a more stringent option that would have forced Google to sell Android. Mehta’s August ruling that Google violated antitrust laws in both the online search and search text advertising markets followed a 10-week trial last year. The company said it plans to appeal.
What does Google need to do?
The Department of Justice wants Google to have to license results and data from its popular search engine and give websites more options to prevent their content from being exploited by Google’s artificial intelligence products.
Antitrust authorities are expected to propose that Google separate its Android operating system for smartphones from other products, including its search engine and the Google Play mobile app store, which are currently sold as a bundle. They are taking into account the requirement for Google to provide advertisers with more information and give them more control over where their ads appear.
Will Chrome be bought by… OpenAI?
A compulsory partition, if it occurs, will also depend on finding an interested buyer. Entities that could afford it, such as Amazon.com is also facing antitrust scrutiny that could prevent such a mega deal.
“I think it’s very unlikely,” Singh said. However, he added that he could find a buyer like OpenAIcreator of the AI-powered ChatGPT chatbot. “It would give it both a distribution and advertising business that would complement consumer chatbot subscriptions.”
A merger with a U.S. AI player could more easily pass government scrutiny than with another tech giant, said Evelyn Mitchell-Wolf, a digital advertising and media analyst at Emarketer. “This could be endorsed by the government as a way to prioritize AI innovation and the U.S. posture around AI internationally.”
