The European Commission ordered Google to give competing AI services access to Android features now used by Gemini and to make some Google Search data available to rival search companies and AI chatbots.
The decisions, issued under the European Union’s Digital Markets Act, are meant to reduce the advantages Google has from controlling both the Android operating system and the world’s largest search engine.
For Android, the change is straightforward. Today, Google’s own AI assistant can interact with phones in ways that outside developers cannot fully match. The Commission wants rival assistants to have the same ability to respond to voice commands, understand what is happening on a device, and carry out tasks across different apps within the Android platform.
In practice, that means a user could choose a different AI assistant and still ask it to send a message, schedule an appointment, or complete actions on the phone without switching back to Google’s services.
Google must provide the software tools, documentation, and technical support that outside developers need to connect their products to Android. Most of those changes must arrive with Android 18 or by Aug. 1, 2027. Support for multiple voice-activated assistants will follow later, with a deadline tied to Android 19 or Aug. 1, 2028.
The Commission issued a separate order covering Google Search.
Search engines and AI chatbots improve by studying what people search for and which results they choose. Regulators argue that Google has an unfair advantage due to its singular access to that information.
Under the new rules, Google will have to license anonymized search data to eligible companies, including AI services that provide search functions. The data will include information such as search queries, search results, and user interactions with those results.
The Commission said the requirement does not extend to Google’s search algorithms or individual users’ search histories. Companies seeking access will also have to meet security and privacy requirements.
These measures are meant to give competing AI services a better chance to operate on equal terms with Google’s products as AI becomes more deeply integrated into smartphones and online search.
