By Jody Godoy (Reuters) – The U.S. Department of Justice revealed on Friday that it has abandoned a plan to compel Alphabet’s Google to divest its interests in artificial intelligence firms, including Anthropic, a competitor to OpenAI, in an effort to enhance competition in online search. Despite this, the DOJ and a group of 38 state attorneys general are still pursuing a court order that would mandate Google to offload its Chrome browser and implement other measures to address a judge’s ruling of Google’s unlawful dominance in search, as per court documents filed in Washington.
In the court papers, prosecutors emphasized the importance of values beyond mere affordability and “free” online services in the American dream, citing freedom of speech, association, innovation, and competition in a market free from the grasp of monopolies.
A Google spokesperson expressed concerns that the far-reaching proposals exceed the court’s mandate and could potentially harm American consumers, economy, and national security. There was no immediate response from Anthropic regarding the matter.
President Donald Trump has pledged to continue the crackdown on Big Tech, initiated during his administration and carried forward into President Joe Biden’s term. Gail Slater, an experienced antitrust attorney, has been appointed by Trump to lead the DOJ’s anti-trust efforts.
Google’s minority stake in Anthropic, valued at billions, is seen as a strategic advantage. Anthropic informed the court in February that losing this investment would give OpenAI and its ally Microsoft a competitive edge.
Updated evidence presented by prosecutors in their final proposal on Friday highlighted potential unintended consequences of prohibiting Google from AI investments in the evolving AI landscape, leading them to suggest that Google should notify the government of future generative AI investments.
Google, intending to appeal, has put forth its own proposal, which includes relaxing agreements with Apple and others to allow different default search engines on new devices. A trial on the proposals is scheduled for April by U.S. District Judge Amit Mehta.
This high-profile case is one of many antitrust actions against major tech firms in the U.S., including Apple, Meta Platforms, and Amazon.com. Google’s argument is that the DOJ’s stance in this case could impede its ability to compete in AI and jeopardize America’s global economic and technological leadership.
Despite some modifications, several measures proposed by prosecutors in November remain unchanged. For instance, the condition for Google to share search query data with competitors now includes provisions for a marginal fee and restrictions on competitors posing national security risks.
The proposal has received support from Democratic and Republican attorneys general, as well as the Alphabet Workers Union-CWA.
(Reporting by Jody Godoy in New York; Editing by Chris Reese and David Gregorio)
