The EU Commission mandates Google to open Android for competing AI assistants like ChatGPT, Claude, and Perplexity. The binding directive from July 16, 2026, is based on the Digital Markets Act and forces the company to provide the same system access as for its own assistant, Gemini. By August 2027, eleven Android features must be accessible, and starting in January 2027, anonymized Google search data will follow for competitors.
Commission orders eleven Android features for competitors
According to the official guideline of the EU Commission, the Commission’s requirements are detailed. Google must allow competing AI assistants to be activated via voice command or hardware button – previously a privilege of its own assistant, Gemini. External applications should also be able to perform tasks across apps, such as booking a taxi ride or analyzing location data, and gain access to device sensors and contextual information from other apps. Access to sufficient hardware and software resources as well as on-device AI models is also part of the eleven affected feature groups. In parallel, Google must share anonymized search data, such as ranking, click, and ad signals, with competing search engines and AI chatbots that offer search functions. According to Unite.AI, the Commission justifies this by referring to Google’s market share, which has been over 90 percent in Europe for years. Competitors may use the provided data to improve their own search results, but not for training general AI models. The rules are considered binding specification measures under the Digital Markets Act; non-compliance could result in fines of up to ten percent of global annual revenue.
Google warns of security and privacy risks
Google rejects the order and announces resistance. Company manager Kent Walker, President of Global Affairs, stated according to MacRumors, that external applications would receive sensitive and extensive device permissions through the requirements; sharing search data would undermine citizens’ privacy, jeopardize trade secrets, and threaten national security. Android chief Sameer Samat accuses the Commission of being on the wrong path with its rules and points out that users can already switch the default assistant in device settings today. The decisions are subject to appeal in EU courts, which could delay the final timeline. A final pricing formula for the search data requirement must be established by January 2027, and the Android changes are to be delivered with Android 18 by August 2027 at the latest, each before the conclusion of possible legal proceedings. This is not the first such proceeding against the company: in previous years, the Commission had imposed heavy fines on Google for favoring its own services in search and advertising. Observers therefore view the new directive as a continuation of a longer regulatory course against the company, this time with AI assistants as the subject of dispute.
Dispute joins conflict with Apple
The case affects not only Google. Apple is also in dispute with the Commission due to similar interoperability obligations of the Digital Markets Act: the company has kept its new, chatbot-like Siri AI away from iPhones and iPads in the EU since June 2026, citing a security concept called “Trusted System Agent” that was rejected by the Commission. For users in Europe, the current Google decision means primarily one thing, according to market observers: more choice on Android devices, which the company says are used by around 427 million people in Europe. According to a report by CNN Business, ChatGPT is already installed on about 30 percent of European smartphones, an independently unverified estimate. Analyst Runar Bjorhovde is quoted in the report as saying that users could use ChatGPT in the future to book a taxi, completely bypassing Android. For employees who use Android smartphones for work, this could mean in the long term using the same assistant across operating system boundaries for appointments, bookings, and research, instead of switching between Gemini and a separately installed app.
It will be crucial whether Google and Apple meet the deadlines before pending legal remedies take effect in EU courts, or whether a delay tactic through the courts postpones the actual start of the opening beyond August 2027. It also remains to be seen whether providers like OpenAI and Anthropic will actually use the new system access to deeply integrate their own assistants into Android, or whether technical security requirements from the Commission will again delay practical implementation.
