Google Fights to Bundle Gemini AI with Popular Apps Amid Antitrust Concerns

Google fights to prevent search remedies from inhibiting its AI ambitions

Lauren Feiner is a senior policy reporter at The Verge, covering the intersection of Silicon Valley and Capitol Hill. She spent 5 years covering tech policy at CNBC, writing about antitrust, privacy, and content moderation reform. A court order will require Google to scale back some of its more aggressive tactics to get its search engine in front of as many users as possible, but it's still fighting to make sure new restrictions won't limit its AI expansion. At a hearing in a federal courthouse in DC on Wednesday, Google attorney John Schmidtlein told Judge Amit Mehta that he should not prevent the company from bundling its Gemini AI app with other Google apps like YouTube and Maps, Bloomberg reported. Mehta expressed concern that requiring manufacturers to install its AI app in order to access Maps and YouTube would give Google "leverage" to better position Gemini, Bloomberg wrote. That's similar to what Mehta found Google did to edge out rivals from key distribution channels for search. Google and the Justice Department were back in court to hammer out the details of Mehta's final order on remedies to restore competition to the search market he ruled that Google illegally monopolized. While Mehta rejected the DOJ's most ambitious proposals like spinning out Chrome, he did grant some other suggestions about sharing search information with rivals and barring it from making exclusive contracts for distributing several of its products. But Google reportedly argued that AI is different, and Mehta shouldn't impose restrictions in an emerging market as the table is being set, comparing a potential Google Gemini bundle with Microsoft's use of CoPilot in its Office products. Maps and YouTube aren't "monopoly product[s]," Schmidtlein reportedly told the court, and when it comes to the AI market, "there's no notion that Google has to date gained monopoly or market power."

Google Wants Right to Bundle Gemini AI App With Maps, YouTube

Alphabet Inc.'s Google wants to retain the right to bundle its popular mapping and video apps with its Gemini AI service, a lawyer for the company told a federal judge Wednesday, pushing back on a Justice Department proposal that would bar the practice. "There's no notion that Google has to date gained monopoly or market power" in the artificial intelligence market, Google lawyer John Schmidtlein told Judge Amit Mehta. Likewise, "there's been no finding that Maps is a monopoly product or that YouTube is a monopoly product."

Google wants right to bundle Gemini AI app with Maps, YouTube

Alphabet Inc.'s Google wants to retain the right to bundle its popular mapping and video apps with its Gemini AI service, a lawyer for the company told a federal judge Wednesday, pushing back on a Justice Department proposal that would bar the practice. "There's no notion that Google has to date gained monopoly or market power" in the artificial intelligence market, Google lawyer John Schmidtlein told Judge Amit Mehta. Likewise, "there's been no finding that Maps is a monopoly product or that YouTube is a monopoly product." Mehta, who found that Google has monopolized search and search advertising, is crafting a remedy to resolve the company's illegal conduct. In a decision last month, he ruled that Google could no longer pay companies to exclusively use its Search, Chrome web browser or Google Play Store, though he declined to bar all payments outright. Mehta's ruling incorporated aspects of proposals from Google and the Justice Department, which led to Wednesday's hearing where both sides argued for him to adopt their language in a final order. During the trial, witnesses testified that Google offers an "all-or-nothing" bundle to device manufacturers, effectively requiring they preload nearly a dozen of Google's apps if they want access to the Play Store, the largest app store on Google's Android operating system. That requirement, for example, forced Microsoft Corp. to feature Google search on its Surface Duo touchscreen device instead of its own search engine, Bing. The Justice Department argued that the same prohibitions that apply to Search, Chrome and Play should also apply to Google's Gemini, a proposal the company opposes. Google's YouTube is the TV service of choice for viewers of all ages, Bloomberg has reported. It now accounts for more than all of Walt Disney Co.'s TV networks and streaming services combined, according to recent data from Nielsen. It also generates more sales from advertising than all four broadcast networks combined, and users collectively watch over 1 billion hours of video on YouTube every day. Google Maps, meanwhile, dominates the digital mapping and navigation market by a significant margin. Last year, the service surpassed 2 billion monthly users globally, placing it among a handful of Google's most widely used products. Comparatively, Apple Inc. had "hundreds of millions" of Apple Maps users in 2020, the company has said. More than 5 million other apps and websites also rely on the Google Maps Platform to power location services like navigation and local business data. The Justice Department during the Biden administration investigated Google Maps over potential antitrust violations, but never filed a case. At Wednesday's hearing, Google's Schmidtlein argued that the AI industry is still developing and Google shouldn't be barred from using the same tactics as others in the market do. He likened Google's potential bundle of Gemini, YouTube and Google Maps with Microsoft's inclusion of its CoPilot AI within its Office productivity software. Mehta, however, expressed reservations about allowing Google to require device makers to take Gemini if they want access to YouTube or Google Maps, noting that would allow Google to use its "leverage" in the market to better position its AI service. Cameron Gower, a lawyer for the Justice Department, urged Mehta to apply the same limitations to Gemini that he ruled would apply to Chrome. Mehta didn't say when he would issue a final ruling. 2025 Bloomberg L.P. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.