EU orders Google to open Android to rival AI assistants

The European Commission just dropped another round of DMA mandates on Google, and this time the target is Android’s AI exclusivity and Google Search. The newly announced specification measures are legally binding and aim to crack open two core parts of Google’s business. On mobile, the Commission says Google’s Gemini enjoys preferential treatment on Android devices — it’s preloaded, responds to ‘Hey Google,’ and hooks into system-level automation features that third-party AI assistants can’t touch.

The Commission argues this baked-in advantage makes competing AI services less attractive to the 60% of EU users on Android. The remedy forces Google to let users install their AI of choice without locking them out of core functionality. The regulators claim the rules are designed with privacy and device integrity in mind, but that’s a tough sell when the entire point of these large language models is to feast on personal data. Google, predictably, isn’t thrilled, warning the measures will weaken privacy and security.

There’s a separate mandate covering Google Search, though details remain thinner there. What’s clear is that Google has no wiggle room to negotiate — it’s been designated a gatekeeper under the DMA, which means compliance isn’t optional. The company’s protests about user safety ring a bit hollow when you consider the financial stakes: every default setting Google loses is a revenue stream that gets diverted to a competitor.

I’m skeptical the average user will notice much change immediately. Building an AI assistant that’s genuinely competitive with Gemini requires massive infrastructure, not just an open door. But the precedent matters more than the immediate practical effect. The EU is essentially declaring that an operating system’s AI layer can’t be a walled garden. If that logic holds, it won’t stop at Android.