Bloomberg Law - DOJ Targets Google’s AI Position After Search Monopoly Ruling

Senior reporter Karina Montoya is quoted emphasizing the significance of the Department of Justice's focus on how Google's dominance in the general search market could extend into AI technology markets.

The Justice Department is taking aim at Google’s position in the generative AI field as it tries to leverage a court ruling that the tech giant is an unlawful monopolist in online search.

Any potential remedies stemming from the August ruling must account for the substantial impact that artificial intelligence will likely have on the search industry, as well the risk that the new technology will further entrench the Alphabet Inc. firm’s dominance, the DOJ said in an Oct. 8 court filing.

The filing offers further proof of US antitrust enforcers’ interest under the Biden administration in confronting dominant tech firms’ place in the fledgling market.

The rise of generative AI has spawned startups offering AI-assisted search products. But the DOJ and the Federal Trade Commission have signaled a concern over Big Tech’s ability to control the emergent ecosystem.

The DOJ is “trying to leverage this win in the search case into something more regulatory in the AI stack,” said Rebecca Haw Allensworth, a Vanderbilt University law professor who has followed the DOJ’s cases against Google.

Such a push is part of a broader strategy from the Justice Department. It said that it is considering moving for a breakup of Google, including changes that would prevent the tech giant from using such products as the Chrome browser and Android operating system from giving it an advantage in search.

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