OpenAI eyes Chrome acquisition as Google faces antitrust challenges

LONDON: OpenAI, the creator of ChatGPT, has expressed interest in acquiring Chrome—the world’s leading web browser—if Google is compelled to sell it. This assertion was made by Nick Turley, an executive at OpenAI, during his testimony on behalf of the US government in an ongoing monopoly trial against Google. The US government seeks to dismantle the tech giant, claiming it holds excessive power in the online search market. However, Google maintains that Chrome is not for sale and is urging the court to dismiss the antitrust case.

According to analytics firm Similarweb, approximately 64 percent of internet users utilize Chrome, with Apple’s Safari trailing far behind at 21 percent. Turley’s testimony was part of a trial in Washington, DC, one of many cases initiated by the US Department of Justice (DOJ) aimed at addressing the dominance of big tech in areas like social media, search engines, and AI. Last year, a court found Google to have a monopoly in online search, and just last week, it was determined that the company holds an illegal monopoly in online advertising technology. Google has announced plans to appeal both rulings, reported the BBC.

Lee-Anne Mulholland, Google’s head of regulatory affairs, commented in a blog post that the government’s proposals would negatively impact American consumers, the economy, and the nation’s technological leadership. The current trial focuses on potential remedies to limit Google’s control in online search, particularly as new generative AI services like ChatGPT grow in popularity. Such AI models enhance search results and aim to mitigate hallucination issues faced by developers.

OpenAI does not expect to be cash-flow positive until 2029

Turley mentioned that OpenAI had proposed a partnership with Google last year to integrate Google search results into ChatGPT, but this offer was declined. “We have no partnership with Google today,” he stated, as reported by Reuters. OpenAI currently partners with Microsoft, which operates the Bing search engine and the Edge browser. Meanwhile, Google is developing its own generative AI products, including Gemini, which competes directly with ChatGPT.

The trial is expected to last for three weeks and will be closely monitored by other major tech firms, such as Meta, Amazon, and Apple, all of which are also dealing with their own monopoly lawsuits from the DOJ. In other news, reports from the past week suggest that OpenAI is exploring the creation of a social network. The Verge indicated that the project is still in its preliminary phases, but the company and its CEO, Sam Altman, have been seeking feedback on a potential competitor to X.

Altman and Elon Musk, the head of X, were formerly business partners but had a significant falling-out over OpenAI’s direction several years ago. X has also integrated its AI tool, Grok, into the platform.