The EU ordered Google: ‘You must open up Android and the search engine for competing AI assistants!’

The two decisions, announced on Thursday, could weaken Google’s control over two of the most important platforms in the technology industry. It is expected to have far-reaching consequences for the company, shaping the future of its Gemini AI tool and opening up new opportunities for competitors to capture the market. Unlike previous financial penalties, these measures require Google to change the way it does business in order to bring its services into line with the new regulations.

New rules of the game under the Digital Markets Act

These rulings stem from regulatory proceedings under the Digital Markets Act (DMA), which requires dominant platforms, so-called “access controllers”, to provide competitors with comparable access to systems and data that they themselves have. These measures are not financial penalties, butć business change orders that have been developed through extensive collaboration between the company and the regulator. This is a continuation of the EU’s long-standing pressure on Google, which culminated in the confirmation of a fine of 4.1 billion euros due to the abuse of the dominant position of the Android operating system, where the court found that Google imposed illegal restrictions on device manufacturers in order to establish the dominance of its search engine.

The two new cases focus on separate but thematically similar parts of Google’s business. The first relates to how competing AI assistants can function on Android, while the second deals with the access of competing search engines and AI chatbots to data generated by Google’s search engine. Considering that Android holds about 61 percent of the mobile operating system market in Europe, these changes could significantly change the user experience.

Veća interoperability za AI assistant na Androidu

The decision regarding Android specifies that Google must provide competing AI assistants with access to the same system functions and data that it provides to its own Gemini. In practice, this means greater interoperability, allowing users, not Google, to decide whether competing tools can access their data and device hardware. This could include the ability to interact with apps, respond to voice commands like “Hey Google” and make fuller use of the phone’s hardware.

This means that in the future Android users could choose ChatGPT, Claude, Perplexity or other assistants as deeply integrated system tools instead of Gemini, with comparable access to the device’s capabilities. This is a significant step away from previous measures such as the “choice screen”, which offered users a choice of default search engine, but its effectiveness has been subject to debate despite because some alternative browsers such as Mozilla and Opera have recorded a significant increase in users.

Data from Google search is becoming more accessible

The second process focuses on Google’s search engine and the data it generates, determining how competing search engines and AI services can gain access to information that Google has historically kept to itself. The European Union emphasized that this also includes AI chatbots, which in some cases function as search engines. The data sharing measure is very similar to the solutions ordered in the antitrust case in the United States, where Google was ordered to share valuable search information with competitors in order to increase their competitiveness.

Google opposed both measures, claiming that the requirements represent an unacceptable risk to the privacy and security of users and compromise the quality of their products. On the other hand, the EU has said that there will be restrictions on how browsing data can be used and that Google will be able to check which services get deeper access to Android to ensure that security is not compromised.

“With today’s measures, we want to support innovation and diversity in the European Union, enabling fair market competition in the markets of AI assistants for Android devices and search engines,” said the Executive Vice President of the European Commission for Technological Sovereignty, Security and Democracy, Henna Virkkunen.

“Thanks to these measures, we hope that an alternative to Google’s search engine and Google’s AI services, such as Gemini, will appear, and that users in the EU will be able to enjoy a greater selection of services. All developers, big and small, are welcome to explore Google’s new possibilities, which will certainly benefit users as well.