OpenAI is reportedly interested in acquiring the Chrome browser if U.S. antitrust regulators succeed in forcing Google parent company Alphabet to divest the popular browser as part of efforts to restore competition to the search industry.
This is according to a statement by an OpenAI executive on Tuesday in the antitrust trial against Google in Washington, Reuters reported.
Specifically, the person who made the headlines is Nick Turley, head of product at ChatGPT, who made these statements during the trial in which the US Department of Justice is seeking to impose a series of measures on Google to rebalance internet searches.
The judge in charge of the case concluded last year that Google maintains a monopoly in the area of online search and advertising, so Google will now have to defend itself in the coming weeks.
We must understand the context of these statements by the ChatGPT executive.
Google has not put Chrome up for sale and plans to appeal the court ruling declaring it a monopoly.
Prosecutors warned in their opening arguments on Monday that Google’s search monopoly could give it advantages in artificial intelligence, and that its AI products are used to redirect users to its search engine.
Google, for its part, has argued that there are other relevant competitors in generative AI, such as Meta and Microsoft.
According to an internal OpenAI document filed by Google lawyers, Turley wrote last year that ChatGPT led the consumer chatbot market and did not consider Google its biggest rival.
In his testimony, he clarified that the document was intended to motivate OpenAI employees and that the company remains interested in establishing distribution partnerships.
Turley, who testified as a government witness, explained that Google rejected OpenAI’s request to integrate its search technology into ChatGPT.
OpenAI wanted to have Google’s search engine inside ChatGPT
OpenAI had approached Google after experiencing problems with its current provider, whose identity was not disclosed. ChatGPT currently uses Microsoft’s Bing search engine.
OpenAI approached it in July, and Google rejected the request in August, claiming it would involve too many competitors.
“We don’t have any partnership with Google today,” said Turley (OpenAI).
The Justice Department’s proposal to force Google to share its search data with competitors could accelerate ChatGPT’s development, Turley added.
As he explained, search is a key part of ChatGPT’s ability to provide up-to-date and accurate answers to users’ queries.
Still, the company is still years away from reaching its goal of using its own search technology to answer 80% of queries, he acknowledged.
In August, federal judge Amit Mehta concluded that Google had protected its monopoly by entering into exclusive agreements with manufacturers like Samsung to install its search engine as the default option on new devices.
Google had considered striking deals with Android phone makers, such as Samsung, that would guarantee exclusivity not only for its search app, but also for its Gemini AI app and Chrome browser.
However, instead of continuing with that strategy, Google has relaxed its most recent agreements with manufacturers like Samsung and Motorola, and with carriers like AT&T and Verizon, allowing them to include rival search options.
These new non-exclusive agreements are in line with what Google has defended as the appropriate solution to the court ruling.
However, the Department of Justice is going further, demanding that Google be barred from making multimillion-dollar payments in exchange for having its search app installed by default.