Feds drop bid to make Google sell AI investments — but still seek sale of Chrome
Google holds a minority stake worth billions of dollars in OpenAI rival Anthropic.
The Justice Department on Friday dropped a proposal to force Alphabet’s Google to sell its investments in artificial intelligence companies, including OpenAI competitor Anthropic, to boost competition in online search.
The DOJ and a coalition of 38 state attorneys general still seek a court order requiring Google to sell its Chrome browser and take other measures aimed at addressing what a judge said was Google’s illegal search monopoly, according to court papers filed in Washington.
Google holds a minority stake worth billions of dollars in Anthropic. Losing the investment would hand a competitive advantage to OpenAI and its partner Microsoft, Anthropic wrote to the court in February.
The DOJ first made a draft recommendation in November. Prosecutors then continued to seek evidence from Google competitors and AI companies. The evidence showed a risk that banning Google from AI investments “could cause unintended consequences in the evolving AI space,” prosecutors said in the final proposal on Friday.
They asked that Google be required to give prior notice to the government about future investments in generative AI.