As the remedy phase of the Google search monopoly case continues, a witness from AI startup Perplexity testified that the search giant’s exclusivity contracts prevented smartphone maker Motorola from setting Perplexity AI as the default assistant on its new devices. The AI executive says Google’s exclusive agreements are like a “gun to your head” from the perspective of device makers.
Bloomberg reports that during the ongoing remedy phase of the search antitrust trial against Google, Perplexity chief business officer Dmitry Shevelenko revealed that the internet giant’s contract with Motorola blocked the smartphone manufacturer from making Perplexity AI the default assistant on its new devices.
According to Shevelenko, Perplexity’s AI app will not be the default AI assistant on Motorola devices “despite both parties wanting it to be,” as Motorola “can’t get out of their Google obligations and so they are unable to change the default assistant on the device.” Instead, Perplexity’s app will be preloaded on new Motorola smartphones but will not appear on the home screen that users first see when logging in.
Shevelenko mentioned that Perplexity has one signed agreement to have its AI assistant pre-installed on a company’s devices and is currently negotiating another, without disclosing the names of the companies involved. He also noted that reaching partnerships with carriers and phonemakers to distribute the company’s app is a challenging task, likening Google’s contracts to a “gun to your head,” where companies risk losing a material source of revenue if they do anything that Google doesn’t like. As Breitbart News previously reported, Google pays Apple an astounding $20 billion a year to maintain its search monopoly.
The Justice Department has requested Judge Amit Mehta, who is overseeing the case, to bar Google from paying for search engine defaults, arguing that this ban should also apply to Google’s AI products, such as Gemini, which the agency claims benefited from the company’s illegal search monopoly. Additionally, the DOJ and a group of US states have argued that Google should be forced to sell off its popular Chrome web browser.
Shevelenko estimated that it took him 10 to 15 minutes to change the default AI assistant on an Android phone from Google’s Gemini to Perplexity, and he required assistance from one of the company’s IT staff. He emphasized that phonemakers and carriers should be liberated from Google’s restrictive contracts and the threat of revenue loss.
Interestingly, Shevelenko mentioned that none of Perplexity’s partnerships would have materialized if not for the Justice Department’s antitrust suit against Google, as the pressure on the search giant has made phonemakers, carriers, and browsers more open to having dialogues with other companies.
When asked about the potential sale of Google’s Chrome browser, Shevelenko stated that Perplexity would not want OpenAI, the maker of ChatGPT, to acquire it due to the company’s previous reversal on its commitment to open source. Perplexity is developing its own browser, Comet, based on Chromium, Google’s open-source version of Chrome, and hopes that any sale will ensure the continued support of the open-source version.
Read more at Bloomberg here.
Lucas Nolan is a reporter for Breitbart News covering issues of free speech and online censorship.
