If Google's generative AI Gemini Assistant chatbot is to surpass OpenAI's ChatGPT in popularity in the coming years, it may have to do so without some of the promotional partnerships that helped put Google Search at the center of Americans' lives.
In a filing with the US federal court on Friday, Google proposed a series of restrictions that would prevent the company from requiring its device maker, browser and wireless network licensees to distribute Gemini to their US users for three years. Google would also give these partners more flexibility in setting their default search engine for their users.
Google's proposal goes against the U.S. Justice Department's call last month for Google to not only loosen its grip on partners, but also share more data with competitors and divest its Chrome browser business. The company on Friday formally rejected the idea of selling part of its business or handing over more information to rivals. And the proposed restrictions could be interpreted as narrower than those the government is pursuing.
The battle follows a ruling last August by U.S. District Judge Amit Mehta in Washington, D.C., who ruled that Google violated federal antitrust laws through deals it made to be the default search engine on iOS and other software, often in exchange for sharing advertising revenue with Google. the partners. The default arrangements helped Google win and retain users, giving it monopolies in both search and search advertising, Mehta found. The search giant was able to raise ad prices without any restrictions, driving “dramatic revenue growth” and “remarkably stable operating profits,” Mehta wrote in his ruling.
Now Mehta must decide what penalties Google will face. He has scheduled hearings to begin in April and is expected to announce his decision in August next year.
The rise of ChatGPT, Gemini and similar chatbots as competitors to traditional search engines has overshadowed the court's case. The Justice Department and several attorneys general involved in the case wanted to ensure that Google couldn't transfer its dominance in legacy search to this emerging field.
But even after Mehta's upcoming ruling, an appeal is expected. It could be years before any restrictions on Google take effect. That left investors optimistic about the prospects of Google and its parent company Alphabet. The conglomerate's shares are up more than 37 percent in 2024, on track to be the eighth-best annual gain since its IPO two decades ago.
Transfer of dominance
During this year's trial, Google attributed its dominance in search to developing an experience that users love. The Justice Department argued that users stick with the default settings on their phones and browsers (often Google). The company's proposal on Friday underscored that Google does not want to lose these default settings completely. For example, it would allow Google to secure default search status on some Samsung phone models in the US, while temporarily suspending the requirement that they all do so.
Google could also still make deals to promote Gemini. Nothing in Google's proposal would prevent the company from paying Samsung to promote Gemini across all its devices. But under the proposed restrictions, Google wouldn't be able to require partners to promote Gemini as a condition of distributing search results, Chrome or the Google Play App Store. And it might not stop partners from also working with rival AI companies like OpenAI.
