On Monday 27 April, the European Commission published its preliminary conclusions aimed at increasing competition in artificial intelligence (AI) services on phones and tablets running Google’s Android system, as part of the specification procedure opened against the digital giant under the Digital Markets Act (DMA) (see EUROPE 13795/7).
The EU institution has thus submitted for consultation the draft measures that Google should apply to ensure that AI services from other third-party providers can be interoperable with key functionalities of the Google Android operating system installed on tablets or mobile phones.
For example, users could “easily” use competing AI services by activating them with a standard phrase (‘wake word’). AI service providers would also be authorized to interact with other applications to perform certain tasks and access certain software or hardware so as to be reliable and responsive.
Currently, on its Android tablets and mobile phones, Google “largely” restricts access to AI services competing with Gemini, notes the Commission in a press release. In its view, such a situation is likely to restrict competition and innovation.
Interested parties have until Wednesday 13 May to comment on the suggested measures. The Commission’s final decision must be taken within six months of the opening of the open specification procedure.
In mid-April, the Commission published its preliminary conclusions on the transparency of data relating to searches carried out on Google Search (see EUROPE 13850/7).
See the Commission’s consultation documents: https://aeur.eu/f/lpu (Original version in French by Mathieu Bion)