AI looms large as judge weighs remedies in Google Search antitrust case
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The federal judge deciding how to remedy Google's dominance in online search repeatedly questioned how AI will impact future competition in the search market, as both Google and the Justice Department made final arguments in court Friday.
Why it matters: At the endpoint of a historic tech antitrust case, there are still key questions about how online search works, what AI's role is and what Google owes its competitors in a landscape that has changed dramatically since the case was filed in 2020.
- Federal Judge Amit Mehta, residing over the case, has a gargantuan task in front of him: decide how to fix Google's search monopoly in an ever-changing market being upended by AI.
The big picture: The case's conclusion is coming at a critical juncture as generative AI changes how people search the web and as Google shifts its main focus from traditional web search to AI products.
- It's also part of Trump administration continuing to flex its anti-Big Tech muscle in a case that has bipartisan support.
Google has repeatedly argued people use Google Chrome because they like it; and that the companies it enters into exclusive distribution contracts with, like Mozilla, Samsung and Apple, benefit greatly.
- The government wants the judge to force Google to spin off Chrome, ban it from using its AI tools to further entrench its monopoly and to stop having exclusive browser and smartphone deals.
What they're saying: "Do you think someone is going to come off the sidelines and build a new general search engine in light of what we are now seeing happen in the AI space?" Judge Mehta asked DOJ lawyer David Dahlquist.
- He asked Dahlquist if products like OpenAI, Claude and Perplexity fall outside the search engine market. Dahlquist said they do fall outside the market at question in this case, but feels that will change in the future.
The other side: "Generative AI companies are not trying to out-Google Google," said Google attorney John Schmidtlein. "They are not general search engines... they are something else."
- "I would imagine [companies like OpenAI] are telling all of their large, massive investors, they're not a general search engine," Schmidtlein said.
Inside the room: "This is a market that's been frozen in place for the best part of two decades," a senior DOJ official told reporters outside the courtroom, adding that a Chrome divestiture should be considered.
- "There's sufficient evidence there for a Chrome divestiture, and the judge has already found them liable. In the general search market, 30% of search queries go through that Chrome browser... So to me, it's a logical remedy," the official said
What's next: Mehta is expected to issue a ruling on remedies in August, and Google plans to appeal the entire monopoly finding after this phase is over.
