For nearly two years, the world’s largest tech companies have been at war with generative AI. Meta may be best known for social media, Google for search, and Amazon for online shopping. But since the launch of ChatGPT, they have invested heavily in trying to dominate in this new era. Along with startups like OpenAI, Anthropic and Perplexity, spending on data centers and chatbots is on track to eclipse the cost of sending the first astronauts to the moon.
to succeed These companies will need to do more than create the most “smart” software: they need people to use and return to their products. Everyone wants to be a Facebooker, and no one wants to be a Friendster. That’s why the best strategy in technology remains the same. That is, create an ecosystem that users can’t help but live in. Billions of people use Google Search every day, so Google is building an innovative AI product called AI Overview directly into results pages. Giving you an immediate advantage over your competitors.
This is the latest cause. Offer from the Ministry of Justice very much The government wants to break Google’s monopoly over the search market, but the proposed solutions might actually do more to shape the future of AI. Google owns 15 products that serve at least half a billion people and businesses in Each place It is a vast ecosystem of gadgets. Search and advertising Personal application and enterprise software, the AI assistants that appear on (or work well with) those products will be the ones those people are most likely to use. And Google has integrated its flagship Gemini AI model into Search, Gmail, Already on Maps, Android, Chrome, Play Store, and YouTube, all of which have at least 2 billion users, AI doesn’t have to be life-changing to be successful. There must be no friction. DOJ now has an opportunity to add some resistance (in a statement Last week, Google Chief Legal Officer Kent Walker called the Justice Department’s proposed remedies part of the (The company’s “intervention agenda will harm Americans and America’s global technology leadership,” including the company’s “leading role” in AI.)
Google isn’t the only competitor with an ecosystem advantage. Apple is integrating its Apple Intelligence suite with Meta-eligible iPhones, iPads, and Macs, which has more than 3 billion users on the platform, including Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp. Enjoying similar benefits, Rufus, Amazon’s AI shopping assistant, has received little attention. But it has received more attention. exists to buyers of US websites this fall. No matter how large the DOJ’s request was, the court ultimately granted it. These giants will continue to lead the AI race, but Google has the clearest advantage among them.
How good these companies’ AI products are has limited adoption. Google’s AI tools have repeatedly shown significant shortcomings, such as confidently recommending eating stones for good health. But more and more people are still using this feature. Just because they are there Similarly, Apple’s AI model is less powerful than Gemini or ChatGPT, but it will have a large user base just because of the iPhone’s popularity. Meta’s AI model may not be cutting-edge. But that doesn’t matter to the billions of Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp users who want to ask chatbots silly questions or generate random illustrations. Tech companies without such an ecosystem are well aware of their disadvantages, such as OpenAI, for example. According to the report Considering developing your own web browser and has partnered with Apple to integrate ChatGPT into the company’s phones, tablets, and computers.
Because of this, it is important that the DOJ’s proposed antitrust remedies be aimed at Google’s broader ecosystem. Federal and state attorneys are asking the court to force Google to sell its Chrome browser; Opting out of search products in the Android mobile operating system prevents it from paying other companies, including Apple and Samsung, to make Google their default search engine. and allow competitors to crawl Google search results and use the search index to build their own products. All of these and other DOJ requests came under the auspices of the search. It is the goal of Google’s vast empire.
As my colleague Ian Bogost argued, selling Chrome might not affect Google’s search dominance: “People come back to Google because they want to.” Not just because the company is strong-armed,” he wrote last week, but selling Chrome and Android, as well as preventing Google from making its search engine the default option for other companies’ products, would give Google a leg up. It’s becoming harder for billions of people to navigate the rest of the software, including AI. Meanwhile, Access to Google’s search index could provide a huge boost to OpenAI, Perplexity, Microsoft, and other AI search competitors: Perhaps the hardest part of building a searchbot is scouring the web for authoritative links. And competitors will have access to the most coveted items. How to do that
The Justice Department appears to recognize that AI warfare involves and goes beyond search. If there is no intervention Google’s search monopoly could give it an unfair advantage over AI as well, and its AI monopoly could increase the company’s control over search. The lawyers wrote that the court must prevent Google from “manipulating the development and use of new technologies,” especially AI, to regulate competition.
So the order is clearly aimed at AI. The DOJ wants to ban Google from its own favored AI products. In addition to search in Chrome, Android, and all other products, it wants to stop Google from purchasing exclusive rights to AI training resources and not allow Google to invest in AI startups and competitors that are or may be. Enter the search market (Two days after the DOJ revealed its proposal, Amazon invested another $4 billion in rival startup Anthropic and OpenAI, which Google has heavily backed to this point as well. (Suggesting that the e-commerce giant may be trying to lock in an advantage through Google), the DOJ also asked Google to provide an easy way to For publishers to opt out of having their content used to train Google’s AI models or referenced in AI-enhanced search products, all of this will make it more difficult for Google to train and market AI models in the future. And it’s easier for competitors to do the same.
When the DOJ first sued Google in 2020, it had something to do with the old internet: a web that seemed stuck long ago and petrified in the image of a company that controlled how billions of people accessed and guide it Four years and a historic victory later. The proposed solution hit the internet amid a sea change that few could have predicted. But the DOJ lawsuit appears to maintain that prediction. A frequently cited issue with antitrust litigation in technology is obsolescence. Which is when the social media monopoly personal computer or the monopoly of e-commerce is evident It is already too late to prevent it. With Generative AI, governments may finally have the advantage they need.
