The US Justice Department on Friday abandoned 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 Justice Department and a coalition of 38 state attorneys general are still seeking a court order forcing Google to sell its Chrome browser and take other steps aimed at addressing what a judge said was Google’s illegal search monopoly, according to court papers filed in Washington.
“The American Dream is about values higher than those of cheap goods and ‘free’ online services. These values include freedom of speech, freedom of association, freedom to innovate, and freedom to compete in a market undistorted by the controlling hand of a monopolist,” prosecutors wrote.
A Google spokesperson said that “the sweeping proposals continue to go far beyond the court’s decision and would harm U.S. consumers, the economy, and national security.”
An Anthropic spokesperson did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
US President Donald Trump has said he will continue the crackdown on big tech companies, which began during his first term and continued during the administration of former US President Joe Biden. Trump has tapped veteran antitrust lawyer Gail Slater to lead the Justice Department’s efforts.
Google owns a minority stake worth billions of dollars in Anthropic. Losing the investment would give a competitive advantage to OpenAI and its partner Microsoft, Anthropic wrote to the court in February.
Evidence obtained by prosecutors since they made their draft recommendation in November showed the risk that banning Google from AI investments “could cause unintended consequences in the changing AI space,” they said in the final proposal on Friday. They called for Google to be required to give the government advance notice of future investments in generative AI.
Google, which has said it will appeal, has made its own proposal that would relax agreements with Apple and others to set Google as the default search engine on new devices. U.S. District Judge Amit Mehta has scheduled a trial on the proposals for April.
The blockbuster case is one of several US antitrust cases against big tech companies. Apple, Meta Platforms and Amazon.com also face accusations of maintaining illegal monopolies in their respective markets.
Since Trump’s re-election, Google has tried to argue that the Justice Department’s approach to the case would hamper the company’s ability to compete in AI and “endanger America’s global economic and technological leadership.”
Many of the measures prosecutors proposed in November remain intact with some adjustments.
For example, the requirement that Google share search query data with its competitors now states that Google can charge a marginal fee for access and that competitors must not pose a national security risk.
The proposal drew statements of support from Democratic and Republican attorneys general, as well as the Alphabet Workers Union-CWA.
