Google's Chrome could end up in the hands of its biggest AI rival

The post Google's Chrome could end up in the hands of its biggest AI rival appeared first on Android Headlines.

Apr 22, 2025 - 23:40

Summary: The tech world faces a potential seismic shift as OpenAI announces that it would buy Chrome from Google—a move that could dramatically alter the balance of power in both search and AI, giving OpenAI control of the world’s most popular browser while Google might also be forced to share its search data with competitors.

Google may have to sell off Chrome, and its biggest AI rival, OpenAI, says it would buy the browser. Google has been hit with a major shakeup following the recent ruling in its case against the Justice Department. If you somehow happened to miss the details, back on April 17, the DOJ ruled that Google had been unlawfully maintaining a monopoly in “key segments of the ad tech industry.”

This was not good news for Google, and it led to the judge ruling over the case, proposing several methods of remedying the situation. One of which was that Google would need to sell Chrome to make good. Google is expected to appeal the ruling, and it may not have to meet any of these remedy proposals. However, the remedies phase of the trial has already started, so there will likely be remedies in place should Google lose its appeal.

Last week, following the ruling, it was reported that multiple AI companies were expected to testify in Google’s case. OpenAI has just done that. On Tuesday, April 22, ChatGPT Head of Product Nick Turley testified that Google once shot down a bid from the company to work together. He followed by stating that Google and OpenAI don’t have a partnership today. Turley also made a statement that OpenAI would be interested in buying Chrome if Google were forced to sell it off.

OpenAI would buy Chrome to restore competition in search

OpenAI’s reasons for buying Chrome are likely to expand beyond restoring competition in search. However, restoring competition is the reason that the company vocalized at trial. That being said, if OpenAI did buy Chrome, what would that mean for Google, and how would it benefit OpenAI in the long run?

Well, Google’s biggest money maker is, by far, the ads business. Chrome is a huge piece of how it all works out in Google’s favor, though. If Google were forced to sell, its ads business would most certainly take a significant hit. Chrome is one of the most-used browsers in the world. Since it’s owned by Google, Google Search is the default search engine. All the pieces are in place to ensure that Google benefits the most.

If it were forced to sell Chrome and OpenAI were to buy it, OpenAI might then have leverage in convincing Google to partner up. During the trial, Turley testified that OpenAI’s proposal for a Google partnership was centered around using Google’s search technology for ChatGPT. Google declined this partnership. An email shown during the trial says OpenAI reached out to Google in July 2024. Google then declined the following month.

According to Turley and the information in the email, OpenAI sees having access to Google’s Search API as a way to offer a better product to users. With Chrome under OpenAI’s umbrella, Google might be more open to discussing a potential partnership.

This is all speculative, of course. The trial is still ongoing. Any remedies that Google does or doesn’t have to make also probably won’t be finalized for a while.

Google may need to share search data anyway

If things don’t go in Google’s favor, OpenAI could end up with Chrome and the search data it wants. Part of the proposed remedies that were set by the DOJ were to share search data with competitors. This could give OpenAI the data it needs to improve search query results in ChatGPT. Assuming Google loses its appeal and the remedies need to be met. This could lead to OpenAI both owning Chrome and getting the search data from Google.

It’s also entirely possible that Google may not have to sell Chrome, but will be forced to share search data. The reverse is also possible at this stage. With these remedies on the table, there’s a real possibility that down the line, Chrome could have a new owner. This would put OpenAI in a stronger position in the AI market. Perhaps even allowing it to eventually replace Google Search as the default for its own ChatGPT-based search.

The post Google's Chrome could end up in the hands of its biggest AI rival appeared first on Android Headlines.