Google’s Search Monopoly on Trial in the AI Era

With the US Department of Justice having won its antitrust case against Google’s search dominance, a second trial now focuses on remedies—potentially forcing Google to sell Chrome or restrict major device deals. But the legal fight coincides with a paradigm shift: AI chatbots are rapidly emerging as alternative go-tos for online queries. Google’s lawyers argue this underscores healthy competition. Federal prosecutors see it differently, claiming Google can still leverage exclusive pacts to dominate AI-based search too. The question: Is Google’s existing market power so entrenched that new challengers, like ChatGPT or Perplexity, can’t truly uproot it? The outcome will shape how search evolves and whether browser or device deals remain permissible.