Additionally, the DOJ wants Mehta to prevent Google from any potential self-preferencing, such as making an AI product mandatory on Google-controlled Android devices or preventing a rival from distributing it on Android devices.
The government appears very concerned that Google could use its ownership of Android to play games in the emerging AI sector. They further recommended an order preventing Google from discouraging partners from working with competitors, degrading the quality of competitors’ AI products on Android devices, or “coercing” manufacturers or other Android partners to grant “better treatment” to Google’s AI products.
Importantly, if the court orders AI remedies related to Google’s control of Android, Google could risk a forced sale of Android if Mehta grants the Justice Department’s request for a “conditional structural relief” requiring the divestiture of Android if behavioral remedies do not destroy current monopolies.
Finally, the government wants Google to be forced to allow publishers to opt out of AI training without affecting their search rankings. (Currently, disabling AI scraping automatically disables sites from Google search indexing.)
According to the DOJ, all of this is necessary to pave the way for a thriving search market, as AI is poised to upend the competitive landscape.
“The promise of new technologies, including advances in artificial intelligence (AI), could provide an opportunity for new competition,” the Justice Department said in a statement. court filing. “But only a comprehensive set of remedies can thaw the ecosystem and finally reverse years of anticompetitive effects.”
At the status conference Tuesday, DOJ attorney David Dahlquist reiterated to Mehta that these remedies are necessary to ensure Google’s illegal search conduct does not extend to this “new frontier.” research, Law360 reported. Dahlquist also clarified that the DOJ views these types of AI products “as new access points for research, rather than an entirely new market.”