The European Commission has issued two binding specification measures against Google under the Digital Markets Act, one aimed at Android AI assistants and one at Google Search data. Both measures target Alphabet’s role as a DMA gatekeeper and tell Google to make parts of its stack available to rivals on regulated terms.
The Android measure is the sharper one for users. According to the Commission, competing AI services must get access to Android device features on equal terms with Google’s own AI services, including Gemini. In plain English: Brussels does not want Gemini to be the only assistant that can behave like part of the phone rather than like an app sitting on top of it.
What the Android order covers
The Commission’s Android AI interoperability materials describe access that goes well beyond a share sheet or a chatbot widget. Google is being told to provide interfaces that let third-party AI assistants use system-level capabilities where Gemini can use them.
- Assistant invocation through hardware buttons.
- Access to on-screen content from apps.
- Use of microphones, cameras and other device sensors.
- Background operation for AI assistants.
- On-device audio models running on the digital signal processor for wake-word detection.
- Concurrent always-on hot-word detection for multiple assistants, subject to Google vetting.
- Access to Google’s on-device local models where Gemini has access.
The measure also appears to require Google to expose information from Google apps, such as Gmail, Calendar, Docs and Maps, when Gemini can use that information. The guidance described in the Commission documents does not give Google a general opt-out for its own app data.
For third-party app developers, the rule is blunt: if an app makes its data available to one system-level AI provider, the same pathway may need to be available to other eligible providers. That is a meaningful change from the usual app-permission model, where a developer or platform owner can limit integrations to selected partners.
Search data sharing
The second measure requires Google to provide rival search services and AI chatbot providers with access to Google Search interaction data that the Commission says only Google can collect at scale. The data described includes search terms, result clicks, languages and device information.
The Commission says the data is to be anonymized. Search logs are awkward material for that promise, since queries can include names, addresses, credentials or other identifying fragments. The Commission’s approach leaves Google responsible for filtering sensitive material such as passwords and usernames out of shared datasets.
Google may charge for access, but only under fair, reasonable and non-discriminatory terms. The Commission says pricing must follow its defined methodology, so this is not a “name your number” data product.
Google and Apple object
Google has argued in a company blog post that the DMA should not weaken security and privacy protections for Europeans. Apple has also criticized the EU measures, Reuters reported, saying they would help AI rivals gain access to Google services.
The immediate engineering question for Google is whether it builds the required Android APIs for the EU, limits Gemini’s system integration there, or fights the measures through the available process. The Commission’s documents are written around compliance through interoperability, not by stripping Gemini back to ordinary app privileges.
The broader question for Android users in Europe is practical rather than philosophical: more assistant choice could mean more powerful alternatives to Gemini, but it also means more software asking to run in the background, listen for wake words and read context from the device. The Commission is betting that permission prompts, vetting and DMA enforcement can keep that from turning into the PC toolbar era with neural networks.
This story draws on original reporting from Daring Fireball.
