"But by the time the judge ruled on punishments for the company this month, the future of artificial intelligence was front and center. Federal district court judge Amit Mehta tried to thread a needle with his latest ruling, rapping Google for its stranglehold over search without hobbling its ability to compete in the newer field of generative artificial intelligence as chatbots grow in importance."
"The Department of Justice had sought stiff penalties, including Google's divestment from its Chrome browser, a corporate crown jewel, and a ban on exclusive deals the company made with device makers for Google to be their default search engine. But Google gets to keep Chrome, and financial deals to make Google the main search engine can happen just not exclusive ones. The company will also have to share some of its valuable search data with competitors, although those details haven't been nailed down yet."
""I think when you look at the package of the remedies all together, they ring hollow," said Alissa Cooper, an internet policy expert and executive director of the Knight-Georgetown Institute, a think tank focused on tech policy. "It doesn't really propose very significant interventions of any kind.""
Federal prosecutors pursued a five-year antitrust case alleging Google monopolized internet search. The court found Google held a stranglehold over search but tailored remedies to avoid impairing competition in generative AI. The ruling bars exclusive default search deals while allowing non-exclusive financial arrangements, preserves Google's ownership of Chrome, and mandates some unspecified sharing of search data with rivals. Critics argue the remedies are weak and that Google's vast search data gives it a sustained advantage in developing AI, illustrating limits of courts to craft policy for rapidly evolving technologies.
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