EU forces Google to share its toys with the other AI and search kids

Spelled out in big colorful letters that even Google can understand, the EU is now requiring the Chocolate Factory to share search data with competitors while enhancing Android AI interoperability for bots other than Gemini. Needless to say, the company would like to find a way to disable this default. The European Commission (EC) announced a pair of specification decisions on Thursday. The first covers AI vendors' ability to integrate into Google's mobile OS, and the other forces Google to give search data to other search engines in order to “rebalance the playing field," as the EC put it. The specification proceeding, the Commission said, isn’t a noncompliance decision and doesn’t attempt to determine whether Google has been flouting its obligations as a Digital Markets Act gatekeeper (i.e., it’s big enough that it controls access to markets for smaller firms). It only wanted to make sure both parties were clear on what the EC actually wants Google to do to lessen its monopolistic hold on search and its control over the operating system on the majority of the world’s smartphones. Gemini gets pried loose from Android “Currently, on Android phones, competitors' AI assistants only have restricted access to key functionalities,” the EC said. “Today's decision will ensure that users can activate their preferred AI assistant.” Specifically, Google will be required to give third-party AI providers extensive access to Android-powered devices, including allowing them to be voice-activated in place of Gemini, and to take actions in apps on user’s behalf. Google cried foul, as it has when faced with practically any EU decision spanking it for unfair competition. “Today's decisions risk undermining vital privacy and security guardrails for millions of Europeans,” Google and Alphabet president of global affairs Kent Walker said in a statement. More specifically to the AI portion of the decision, Walker said the EC’s ruling is unnecessary, as AI assistants "already safely acces