From Search to AI: How court may force Google to rewrite its playbook

The long-running antitrust case against Google took a sharply futuristic turn on Friday as US District Judge Amit Mehta probed whether curbing the tech giant’s influence in generative AI is a necessary remedy for its illegal search monopoly. The Justice Department believes that AI — particularly generative tools like Gemini — is the new frontier of search and that limiting Google’s dominance there is crucial to fostering competition.

According to a report by Bloomberg, Judge Mehta appeared to share that concern. “We’re trying to kickstart competitors,” he said, suggesting that without proactive remedies, the next Google might never emerge.

The DOJ wants to ban Google’s default placement deals on devices and browsers — extending the ban to AI assistants — and even floated radical steps like forcing Google to divest Chrome and share search data with rivals. Google’s lawyers pushed back hard, calling the proposals extreme and unrelated to the case’s core conduct.

But AI players like Perplexity and OpenAI told the court they’re already hitting Google-shaped roadblocks in striking deals with manufacturers. Some even expressed interest in buying Chrome if it came up for sale.