EU Forces Google to Open Android and Search to AI Rivals

The European Union has ordered Google to grant rival search engines and AI assistants comparable access to Android and certain Search data under the Digital Markets Act. Google must also allow competing AI assistants to be offered on Android devices on equal terms, reshaping the mobile AI distribution landscape in Europe.

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This is a structural DMA enforcement action that directly rewires how AI assistants and search engines reach European users on Android devices. Google faces mandatory interoperability obligations that advantage rival AI and search players across Europe for the foreseeable future. Microsoft, Apple, and AI-native search startups gain a regulatory opening to access Android's enormous user base on equal footing with Google. Google risks meaningful erosion of its default-position revenues and AI assistant distribution moat in one of its largest markets. The ruling sets a precedent that could pressure other DMA-designated gatekeepers and accelerate similar regulatory actions globally.