Just as tech giant Google is facing the challenge of being forced to sell its Chrome browser and dissolve its partnership with AI startups, news has come that AI startup OpenAI is about to enter the browser market.
On the evening of November 20th local time, the US Department of Justice officially submitted a document to the federal court, proposing that Judge Amit P. Mehta, who ruled in August this year that Google illegally monopolized the search market, demand that Google sell its Chrome browser and not re-enter the browser market for five years.
After the news came out, Google's (Nasdaq: GOOG) stock price fell 4.56% to close at $169.24 per share on November 21, with a total market value of $2.06 trillion, evaporating about $102.2 billion (approximately RMB 740.5 billion) in one day.
In the 23 page document titled "Summary of the Plaintiff's Final Judgment Execution", the Department of Justice stated that Google should be prohibited from signing exclusive agreements with third parties such as Apple and Samsung, and from prioritizing the promotion of its search service in other products under its umbrella. According to information from the website Statcounter, Chrome currently holds approximately two-thirds of the global browser market share.
At the same time, the US Department of Justice recommends prohibiting Google from "owning or acquiring any shares of search competitors, potential market entrants, and AI products related to search or search advertising," and immediately divesting any such shares it owns.
According to media reports, some sources have stated that the US Department of Justice is attempting to block Google's deal with AI startup Anthropic through the aforementioned terms. If a federal judge accepts the Department of Justice's proposal, Google will be forced to terminate its partnership with AI startup Anthropic.
Anthropic was co founded by the siblings Dario Amodei and Daniela Amodei, former OpenAI executives. It has the Claude series of large language models and is considered OpenAI's biggest competitor, mainly supported by Google and Amazon. In September of this year, it was reported that Anthropic was in talks for a new round of financing, with a potential valuation of up to $40 billion upon completion.
Currently, Anthropic has established a small-scale cloud partnership with Google. Google had promised to invest $2 billion in Anthropic in 2023, but was subsequently announced by the UK Competition and Markets Authority's antitrust agency (CMA) to initiate an investigation, which was approved by CMA on Tuesday of this week.
It is worth noting that after the news of Google being asked to sell Chrome browser came out, there were also reports from foreign media that OpenAI was considering developing a web browser that could be combined with its chatbot ChatGPT, and had already discussed or reached deals with some website and application developers. In addition, OpenAI is also considering providing AI capabilities for devices manufactured by Samsung, which is also an important business partner of Google.
If OpenAI really develops its own AI browser, after entering the search market through SearchGPT, OpenAI will also compete with Google in the browser market, threatening Google's dominant position in the market. However, it has been revealed that OpenAI is still far from officially launching a browser product.
Analysis suggests that AI startups are actively developing businesses beyond chatbots, including search engines and browsers. Previously, Mandeep Singh, an industry research analyst at Bloomberg, stated that although it is highly unlikely that Google will ultimately be forced to sell the Chrome browser, if this happens, AI model manufacturers such as OpenAI may become buyers of Chrome and expand their business choices.
Anyway, the Google antitrust lawsuit that started in 2020 will continue for a long time. Judge Mehta, who is in charge of this case, will hold a hearing in April 2025 and will strive to make a ruling on the remedial measures for the case before August next year. Google has announced that it will appeal the case once remedial measures are determined.