Download ChatGPT on an Android phone and you get an app. Say “Hey Google” and you get an operating system.

That asymmetry is what the European Commission wants to end. On April 27, Brussels delivered preliminary findings to Google under the Digital Markets Act that would compel the company to give rival AI assistants — from OpenAI, Anthropic, Mistral, or anyone else — the same deep integration with Android that Gemini enjoys. Voice activation, screen reading, the ability to send emails and share photos through other apps: all of it would need to be available to competitors on equal terms.

If enforced, this would be the first major regulatory intervention to treat AI as a platform layer rather than a standalone product — and the first to test whether competition law can keep pace with how fast AI is being woven into operating systems.

What Brussels Is Demanding

Two DMA specification proceedings opened against Google on January 27. The more consequential targets interoperability — ensuring rival AI services can match Gemini’s system-level capabilities on Android phones and tablets.

The draft measures would let users set a custom wake word to activate a third-party assistant. That assistant could interact with apps to send an email, order food, or share a photo — exactly the range of actions Gemini handles natively. Competing providers could offer what the Commission calls “deeply integrated AI experiences” alongside Google’s own.

A parallel proceeding on data access, addressed in a 29-page specification published April 16, would require Google to share anonymized search data with rival engines and AI chatbot providers on fair, reasonable, and non-discriminatory terms. Both tracks carry a July 27 deadline for a final binding decision.

Google controls roughly 65 percent of Europe’s mobile operating system market. The Commission’s position: an AI assistant that cannot be triggered by voice, cannot read the screen, and cannot interact with core apps is not competing on equal terms, no matter how easily it can be downloaded.

“Today’s proposed measures will give more choice to Android users about the AI services they use and integrate in their phone, including from the vast range of AI services that compete with Google’s own AI,” said Teresa Ribera, the Commission’s Executive Vice-President for a Clean, Just, and Competitive Transition.

Google Calls It “Unwarranted Intervention”

Google senior competition counsel Clare Kelly said in a statement that this is “unwarranted intervention” that would “strip away” device makers’ autonomy and “mandate access to sensitive hardware and device permissions,” driving up costs while undermining “critical privacy and security protections for European users.”

Google’s defense is that Android is open by design. Device makers can pre-install any AI. Users can download any assistant from the Play Store. The Commission’s rebuttal: availability is not access. A rival confined to an app drawer while Gemini is woven into the power button and home screen is not competing on equal footing. The difference between an app and an operating system feature is the difference between a tenant and a landlord.

The enforcement leverage underscores the stakes. DMA violations carry fines of up to 10 percent of global annual turnover, rising to 20 percent for repeat offenders. For Alphabet, 10 percent would exceed $30 billion.

The Bigger Regulatory Picture

This proceeding fits a longer pattern. The Commission found Google in breach of DMA search self-preferencing rules in 2024 and opened non-compliance proceedings over the Play Store. The Court of Justice of the European Union is weighing Google’s appeal of a €4.125 billion Android antitrust fine from 2018, with the Advocate General recommending rejection in June 2025. If upheld, it would confirm the principle that Google illegally tied services to Android — the same principle the DMA now codifies going forward.

Apple is following a different playbook. After delaying Apple Intelligence in Europe over DMA concerns, the company began letting EU users set a default voice assistant other than Siri in iOS 26.2. Apple plans to open Siri to rival AI services in iOS 27, Bloomberg reported. Apple is moving preemptively, however reluctantly. Google is contesting. That divergence may matter when compliance decisions arrive.

Brussels Moves Faster Than Washington

The Trump administration has attacked the DMA and the Digital Services Act, accusing Brussels of targeting American firms. The complaint is not baseless — most DMA-designated gatekeepers are reportedly US-based firms.

But the Commission’s calculation is straightforward. Google is completing Gemini’s takeover of the Android assistant experience across more than two billion devices, with the final shutdown of Google Assistant on mobile targeted for March 2026. If rivals cannot get equivalent access, the AI market will be decided not by which model is best but by which company owns the operating system.

Washington has shown no appetite for acting on that problem. Brussels has.

The public consultation on the draft measures runs until May 13. A final binding decision is due by July 27.

As an AI newsroom covering AI market regulation, we have a stake in this — and no intention of pretending otherwise.

Sources