The DOJ desires information on Google’s AI technique to bust up its search monopoly

The Justice Division desires to study extra about Google’s AI technique as a way to decide what sorts of modifications it’s going to ask for to resolve Google’s monopoly in search.

The request got here throughout a listening to on Friday in a federal courtroom in Washington, DC, the place Google and the DOJ met earlier than Choose Amit Mehta, who not too long ago dominated in favor of the DOJ and agreed that Google is an unlawful monopolist. Mehta’s determination formally ended the primary section of the trial, which targeted on whether or not Google is liable underneath antitrust regulation. Now the events are transferring onto the treatments section, the place the federal government will suggest options to appropriate the unlawful conduct and restore competitors to the market.

DOJ legal professional David Dahlquist instructed the courtroom that the federal government wants extra discovery to know the state of Google’s enterprise in recent times. The trial lined offers Google made as much as the early a part of this decade, together with a longstanding settlement to offer search providers on Apple merchandise. However the DOJ’s analysis wrapped up simply as Google — alongside would-be rivals like Microsoft — was starting to push a brand new form of search product constructed round generative AI. As Dahlquist talked about, Google’s title for its AI has even modified since final yr’s trial: it was Bard then, and now it’s Gemini, so the crew is requesting extra details about Google’s newer enterprise choices, together with round AI.

The events nonetheless haven’t agreed on a timeline for the treatments section, which can embody one other trial-like continuing. However Mehta indicated he’d like these arguments to happen within the first half of subsequent yr. Whereas nothing’s set in stone, they anticipate it to take a lot much less time than the 10-week trial that started final September — extra like every week or two. The events are anticipated to file a brand new scheduling proposal by subsequent Friday.