Google troubled by EU move to help AI, search rivals access services
It has concerns that further rules will compromise user privacy, security and innovation
[BRUSSELS] Alphabet’s Google will be given guidance by the European Union antitrust regulators on how to help online search rivals and artificial intelligence (AI) developers access its services and its Gemini AI models, the European Commission said on Tuesday (Jan 27).
Google has long faced criticism from rivals who have said that its market power gives it an unfair advantage, and that it is looking to the EU’s Digital Markets Act (DMA) to give it a leg up. The company rejects the allegations.
“Today’s proceedings under the DMA will provide guidance to Google, to ensure that third-party online search engines and AI providers enjoy the same access to search data and Android operating system as Google’s own services, (such as) Google Search or Gemini,” said EU tech chief Henna Virkkunen.
Google has expressed concerns after the Commission, the EU’s competition enforcer, said that it had opened two specification proceedings after discussions with the US tech giant on how to comply with the DMA, which aims to rein in Big Tech’s power.
“Android is open by design, and we’re already licensing Search data to competitors under the DMA,” said Clare Kelly, Google’s senior competition counsel.
“However, we are concerned that further rules, which are often driven by competitor grievances rather than the interest of consumers, will compromise user privacy, security and innovation,” she added.
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In one of the proceedings, the regulators will spell out how Google should grant third-party AI service providers equally effective access to the same features available to its own AI services, such as Gemini.
In the other, the Commission will detail how Google should grant third-party providers of online search engines access to anonymised ranking, query, click and view data held by Google Search on fair, reasonable and non-discriminatory terms, and the eligibility of AI chatbot providers to access the data.
“We want to maximise the potential and the benefits of this profound technological shift, by making sure the playing field is open and fair, not tilted in favour of the largest few,” said EU antitrust chief Teresa Ribera.
Apple got a similar guidance from the Commission on how it should open up its closed ecosystem to rivals two years ago. The Commission aims to wrap up the proceedings within six months. REUTERS
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