Brussels Orders Google to Open Android to Rival AI Assistants and Share Search Data

Two binding Digital Markets Act decisions give competing assistants equal access to core Android functions from mid-2027 and force anonymized search-data sharing with rivals — including AI chatbots — from January.

Jul 17, 2026Source: CNBC

Key Points

1.The European Commission adopted two binding specification decisions against Google under the Digital Markets Act on July 16 — one on AI-assistant interoperability in Android, one on search-data sharing.
2.Rival AI assistants that meet security and privacy criteria must get equal access to around 11 Android functionalities — voice activation like 'Hey Google,' task delegation such as booking a taxi, and chat suggestions — reaching users with the next Android release in July 2027.
3.Google must share anonymized search data with competing search engines, explicitly including AI chatbots with search functionality, under a fair pricing formula from January 2027; Google's Kent Walker warned the decisions 'risk undermining vital privacy and security guardrails for millions of Europeans.'

The European Commission on July 16 adopted two binding decisions that reach deeper into Google's platform than any Digital Markets Act enforcement to date — prying open Android for competing AI assistants and forcing Google to sell access to its search data to rivals, AI chatbots included.

Decision one: the assistant slot

The first specification decision requires Google to give rival AI assistants equal access to roughly 11 Android functionalities currently reserved for Gemini and Google Assistant — including voice activation (the "Hey Google" hot-word slot), task delegation such as booking a taxi, and chat suggestions. Access is conditioned on rivals meeting security and privacy criteria. Users see the change with the next major Android release in July 2027.

Decision two: the data tap

The second decision compels Google to share search data — anonymized through what the Commission describes as a multi-layered method — with competing search engines, explicitly including AI chatbots with search functionality. The regime comes with a fair-pricing formula and a transparent access process, and takes effect from January 2027. Press coverage was quick to note the obvious beneficiaries: OpenAI, Perplexity and any assistant maker that has struggled to match Google's click-and-query corpus, though the Commission's own text names no company.

Google's response

Kent Walker, Google's president of global affairs, signaled a fight: "Today's decisions risk undermining vital privacy and security guardrails for millions of Europeans." The company has previously argued that DMA interoperability mandates hand attack surface to bad actors and free-ride on decades of infrastructure investment.

The mechanics

Specification decisions are the DMA's quiet weapon — they don't levy fines but define, bindingly, what compliance means, with penalties of up to 10% of global revenue for ignoring them. Brussels has now used the instrument to make the assistant layer, not the app store, the next contested territory on 3 billion Android devices.

Why It Matters

The hot-word slot and the system-level task hooks are how an assistant becomes the default interface to a phone, and Brussels just ruled they cannot be Gemini-only. If ChatGPT or Perplexity can sit where 'Hey Google' sits — and buy the search data to answer with — the assistant war on Android reopens in 2027 on regulated terms, and every other jurisdiction watching the DMA gets a template.

Filed underGoogle AI AI Regulation #AI assistants #DMA #European Commission #Google #antitrust