If Google’s generative AI Gemini assistant Chatbot is expected to surpass OpenAI’s ChatGPT in popularity in the coming years, perhaps without some of the advertising partnerships that have helped put Google search at the center of Americans’ lives.
In a US state Court filing on FridayGoogle proposed a series of restrictions that would prevent the company from requiring its device makers, browsers and wireless carriers to distribute Gemini to their U.S. users for three years. Google would also give these partners more flexibility in setting their default search provider for their users.
Google’s proposal contradicts the U.S. Justice Department’s demand last month that Google not only loosen its control over partners but also share more data with competitors is selling its Chrome browser business. The company on Friday officially rejected the idea of selling part of their business or giving more information to competitors. And the proposed restrictions could be interpreted as narrower than those sought by the government.
The fight follows a ruling last August by U.S. District Judge Amit Mehta in Washington, D.C., who found this to be the case Google violated federal antitrust laws Through agreements, it became the default search provider for iOS and other software, often in exchange for sharing advertising revenue with partners. Mehta found that the standard agreements helped Google attract and retain users by giving it monopolies in both search and search ads. The search giant was able to increase ad prices without restriction, resulting in “dramatic revenue growth” and “remarkably stable operating profits,” Mehta wrote in his ruling.
Now Mehta has to decide what penalties Google should face. He has scheduled the hearings for April and is expected to release his decision in August next year.
The emergence of ChatGPT, Gemini and similar chatbots as competitors to traditional search engines has dominated the court case. The Justice Department and several attorneys general involved in the case wanted to ensure that Google could not transfer its dominance in legacy search to this emerging field.
But appeals are expected even after Mehta’s upcoming verdict. It could be years before restrictions on Google come into effect. That has left investors optimistic about the prospects of Google and its parent company Alphabet. The conglomerate’s shares have gained over 37 percent in 2024, on track to achieve the eighth-best annual gain since its IPO 20 years ago.
Dominance transfer
During this year’s trial, Google attributed its dominance in search to developing an experience that users loved. The Justice Department argued that users stick to the default settings on their phones and browsers – often Google. The company’s proposal Friday underscored that Google doesn’t want to completely lose these default settings. This would allow Google, for example, to secure the default search status on some Samsung phone models in the US, while temporarily suspending the requirement that all models do so.
Google could also still reach agreements to promote Gemini. Nothing in Google’s proposal would prevent the company from paying Samsung to promote Gemini on all of its devices. But under the proposed restrictions, Google would not be able to require its partners to promote Gemini as a condition of distributing Search, Chrome or the Google Play app store. And it might not stop partners from also working with rival AI companies like OpenAI.
