The European Union has ordered Google to give rival AI assistants far greater access to Android, in a move designed to stop the company from using its dominant mobile operating system to shut out competitors. According to Engadget, the EU concluded that third-party AI assistants currently have only limited access to ‘key functionalities’ within Android, while Google’s own Gemini gets the full run of the platform. That imbalance, regulators say, is holding back competition.
The decisions are legally binding. Google has two deadlines to meet: it must start sharing search data with rivals by January 2027, and it has until July 2027 to open up Android’s software features to competing AI apps.
This is one of the most significant interventions Brussels has made under its Digital Markets Act, which came into force in 2022 and was specifically designed to stop large tech platforms from using their market position to crowd out smaller players. Google has already faced DMA-related pressure on its browser choice screens and app store rules. This new ruling extends that pressure directly into the AI assistant space, which is fast becoming one of the most competitive corners of the tech industry.
On the Android side, the changes will likely look familiar to EU users who have already seen browser choice screens on their devices. Once the rules take effect, Android users in the bloc should be able to set a third-party AI assistant as their default, wake it with voice commands, and use it for the kind of hands-free, multi-step tasks that are increasingly being called ‘agentic’ actions. Right now, those deep system integrations mostly benefit Gemini.
The search data rules go further. The EU is requiring Google to share the same data it uses to improve its own search results with third-party search engines and AI chatbots. The data must be anonymized, and an independent third party will be brought in to check that the anonymization methods are up to scratch.
Google is not taking this quietly. Kent Walker, the company’s President of Global Affairs, published a response arguing the rulings ‘risk undermining vital privacy and security guardrails for millions of Europeans.’ He also claimed the search data sharing requirement would ‘endanger national security.’ Apple, which has its own reasons to be wary of EU intervention, backed Google’s position earlier this year, warning that forcing deeper Android access for third-party apps could create serious privacy problems.
Whether Google will mount a legal challenge is not yet clear, but the strong language from Walker suggests the company is at least weighing its options. A challenge would not be surprising. Google has previously pushed back against EU decisions, and the stakes here are high, touching both its core search business and its growing AI ambitions.
For users, the practical impact will depend on how quickly and cleanly Google implements the changes. If the rollout resembles past DMA compliance efforts, expect some friction along the way. But if it works as regulators intend, Android users in Europe could soon have a genuinely open choice between AI assistants, not just on paper, but in how those assistants actually function on their phones.
