The U.S. Department of Justice’s proposed remedies to break up Google’s search dominance could weaken its main profit engine and stall its advances in artificial intelligence, even though a final outcome may be years away, analysts said.
The DOJ said on Tuesday it may ask a judge to force Google to divest parts of its business such as its Chrome browser and Android operating system, that the Alphabet-owned company (GOOGL.O), opens new tab used to maintain an illegal monopoly in online search.
It is only one of the many potential fixes prosecutors are considering.
Barring Google from collecting sensitive user data, requiring it to make search results and indexes available to rivals, letting websites opt out of their content being used to train AI products and making Google report to a “court-appointed technical committee” are also on the table.
Alphabet investors, who have seen several antitrust actions this year including a ruling on Monday ordering Google to open up its app store, sent shares 1.5% lower to $161.86 at Wednesday’s close, after the DOJ news.
The remedies strike at the heart of the internet empire that has made Google synonymous with search and can reduce its revenue while giving its rivals more room to grow.
“The DOJ has reverse engineered Google’s formula for success and is intent in dismantling it,” said Gil Luria, managing director and senior software analyst at D.A. Davidson.
“The proposed privacy and data accumulation remedies would give Google the choice to either share all the data it collects or stop gathering the data in the first place. As it will likely choose the former, that could strengthen its competitors and possibly create new competition,” Luria said.
Analysts warned that the AI-related remedies could disrupt Google’s business when it is already under pressure from startups such as ChatGPT maker OpenAI and AI-powered search engine operator Perplexity.
