Google is going to court to stop the EU opening Android up to ChatGPT and other rival AI assistants

Google filed appeals with the EU's General Court on Monday seeking to overturn two European Commission decisions issued in July under the Digital Markets Act that would require it to give rival AI assistants the same Android access as Gemini and to share anonymized Google Search data with competing search engines and AI chatbots starting January 2027. Google senior director of competition Oliver Bethell said the orders would force the company to "share people's private search history without sufficient anonymisation and weaken vital security protections on Android," calling the privacy harm "irreversible," while the Commission says the measures include "robust safeguards" and DuckDuckGo said the appeal "buys Google is time." An appeal does not automatically pause the orders, and a General Court ruling typically takes well over a year, with the Android changes due to reach phones through updates over the next two years.

The Court of Justice of the European Union in Luxembourg, home of the General Court, in 2006. Image: Cédric Puisney <https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:European Court of Justice ECJ in Luxembourg with flags 0017 1674479483 .jpg / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 2.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/ , cropped Google has asked the EU’s General Court to overturn two orders that would force it to give rival AI assistants the same access to Android as its own Gemini, and to share Google Search data with competing search engines and AI chatbots. It filed the appeals on Monday against two decisions the European Commission issued in July https://digital-markets-act.ec.europa.eu/commission-provides-guidance-google-ai-interoperability-android-and-sharing-google-search-data-under-2026-07-16 en under the Digital Markets Act, Reuters reports https://www.brecorder.com/news/40441770/google-challenges-eu-orders-to-open-up-to-ai-search-engine-rivals . What the EU ordered The Commission says rival AI assistants on Android currently get only “restricted access to key functionalities” of the operating system, while Google’s own AI services have full access. That, it argues, leaves them unable to compete fairly for the roughly 60% of EU users with an Android phone. Its first decision would change that. According to the Commission, users would be able to: - Wake a rival assistant by voice , the way “Hey Google” summons Gemini today. - Let it act inside apps , for example booking a taxi on your behalf. - Get its help across the phone , such as suggested replies in chat apps or questions about a place you recently visited. The second decision covers search. Google already has to share some search data with rivals under the DMA, but the Commission said its offer so far had been “ineffective”. The July order spells out that AI chatbots with search features, such as ChatGPT, count as eligible rivals, and that Google should share the same data it uses to improve its own search, after anonymising it with a “multi-layered method” drawn up with privacy experts. It also sets a formula for what Google can charge. Sharing is due to start in January 2027. “Irreversible harm”, says Google Google says the orders go too far on privacy and security. Oliver Bethell, its senior director of competition, said in a statement: We’re appealing decisions that will force us to share people’s private search history without sufficient anonymisation and weaken vital security protections on Android. Oliver Bethell, Google’s senior director of competition He said people use Search for their most personal questions, from medical worries to relationships, and that sharing those queries without proper safeguards would cause “irreversible harm” to their privacy. The Commission disagrees. Its July decision says the measures include “robust safeguards” for privacy, device integrity and security, and lets Google refuse to hand data to a particular company if doing so poses serious security or data protection risks. DuckDuckGo, which stands to receive the search data, backed the regulator, telling Reuters that the only thing an appeal “buys Google is time”. What happens now An appeal doesn’t automatically pause the orders, and a General Court ruling usually takes well over a year, with a possible further appeal to the EU’s top court after that. The Android changes are meant to reach phones through future Android updates over the next two years, so the fight could run alongside the rollout. Google isn’t the only company pushing back. Apple is holding its new AI Siri back from iPhones in the EU, blaming what it calls “EU regulators’ extreme interpretation” of the same law, as we noted in our look at why Apple is losing the AI race https://madrobot.blog/2026/09/25/apple-falling-behind-ai-race-siri-analysis/ . Why it matters Android is the world’s most used phone software, and whoever controls the assistant built into it has a huge head start in the AI race. If the EU wins, ChatGPT, Claude and other assistants could work on European Android phones almost as deeply as Gemini does, and the outcome will be watched by regulators well beyond Europe. Sources: European Commission July 16, 2026 https://digital-markets-act.ec.europa.eu/commission-provides-guidance-google-ai-interoperability-android-and-sharing-google-search-data-under-2026-07-16 en , Reuters https://www.brecorder.com/news/40441770/google-challenges-eu-orders-to-open-up-to-ai-search-engine-rivals .