TECH NEWS – An ongoing antitrust trial in the United States may force Google to part ways with its Chrome browser to promote fairer competition in search. If that happens, an OpenAI executive told the judge they’d jump at the chance to buy it—adding they’d pack it full of artificial intelligence features.

Nick Turley, head of product at ChatGPT, gave testimony Tuesday in Washington, where the US Department of Justice (DOJ) is weighing how best to curb Google’s dominance in the search market.

The judge has already ruled that Google holds a monopoly over online search and, by extension, digital advertising. Google has so far rejected any notion of selling Chrome and plans to appeal the ruling.

Government Sees AI as a New Front in Google’s Dominance

The DOJ called OpenAI in because prosecutors are concerned that Google’s grip on search could give it unfair leverage in the AI race. They argue that any AI advancements might loop users back to Google’s search engine. Google counters by pointing to heavyweights like Meta, Microsoft, and OpenAI itself as serious competition in the AI space.

During the trial, Google’s legal team presented an internal OpenAI memo in which Turley stated that ChatGPT leads the consumer AI space and doesn’t consider Google its main rival. Turley also confirmed that Google previously blocked OpenAI’s attempt to incorporate its search into ChatGPT, which currently relies on Microsoft’s Bing engine.

“We believe that having multiple partners, especially Google’s API, would help us deliver a better product to users,” reads an OpenAI email sent to Google in July 2023. Google declined the offer a month later.

Sharing Search Data Could Shake Up the Market

One of the DOJ’s proposals is to compel Google to share its search data with competitors—a move Turley said would significantly accelerate ChatGPT’s development. He emphasized that search is central to ChatGPT’s functionality, but noted they’re still years away from building their own engine that can answer 80% of user queries. Notably, they’ve recently hired former Chrome engineers Ben Goodger and Darin Fisher to boost this effort.

Turley argued that requiring Google to share its data would level the playing field and stimulate more robust competition in the AI and search ecosystem.

Source: PC Gamer