As the trial starts, the DOJ claims that Google may utilize AI to expand its search monopoly.

As a trial in the landmark antitrust lawsuit got underway Monday, a U.S. Department of Justice lawyer stated that Alphabet’s Google (GOOGL.O) requires strict regulations to stop it from using its AI products to increase its dominance in online search.

The case’s verdict might drastically change the internet by dislodging Google as the primary online information source.

In order to break what a judge determined to be Google’s monopoly in internet search, the Justice Department is requesting an order requiring the company to sell its Chrome browser and do other actions. The litigation has been likened by prosecutors to previous instances that led to the dissolution of Standard Oil and AT&T.

According to DOJ lawyer David Dahlquist’s opening speech, this is the “time to tell Google and all other monopolists who are out there listening, and they are listening, that there are consequences when you break the antitrust laws.”

Even as search develops to overlap with generative AI products like ChatGPT, the DOJ and a large coalition of state attorneys general are advocating for remedies they believe will restore competition.

“This court’s remedy should be forward-looking and not ignore what is on the horizon,” Dahlquist stated.

According to him, Google’s search monopoly aids in the development of its AI products, which also serve as a means of directing visitors to its search engine.

According to documents presented during the trial, Google has agreed to pay Samsung (005930.KS) on a monthly basis to install Google’s Gemini AI program on gadgets like cellphones. This agreement may be extended until 2028. Although Dahlquist would not provide the financial details, he described the monthly amount as a “enormous sum.”

Google’s exclusive arrangements with device manufacturers to be the default search engine helped sustain its monopoly, according to an earlier ruling by U.S. District Judge Amit Mehta.

On Tuesday, Nick Turley, the product manager for OpenAI’s competing AI tool ChatGPT, was scheduled to testify.

Google’s lawyer, John Schmidtlein, said in his opening statement that the DOJ’s proposals amount to “a wishlist for competitors looking to get the benefits of Google’s extraordinary innovations.”

“Even though they are competing just fine,” he reported, AI competitors “would like handouts as well.”

Google contends that the lawsuit, which was centered on search engines, does not apply to its AI products. Adopting the proposed remedies “would hold back American innovation at a critical juncture,” Google executive Lee-Anne Mulholland said in a blog post on Sunday.

The business has stated that after a final verdict is rendered, it would file an appeal.

EXCLUSIVE AGREEMENTS

Antitrust enforcers have proposed far-reaching measures designed to quickly open the search market and give new competitors a leg up.

Their proposals include ending Google’s exclusive agreements with tablet and smartphone makers like Apple (AAPL.O) to make Google the default search engine on their devices.

Google would also have to license search results to competitors, among other requirements. The DOJ has proposed that, if other remedies fail to restore competition, Google would be forced to sell its Android mobile operating system.

Google said the court should stick to making its default agreements non-exclusive.

Ending Google’s payments to device makers and browser developers would raise the cost of smartphones and jeopardize the existence of companies like Mozilla, which rely on the revenue to operate, Google claims.

Google plans to call witnesses from Mozilla, Verizon (VZ.N) and Apple, which launched a failed bid to intervene in the case.

“NONPARTISAN”

The case is part of an antitrust crackdown on Big Tech started during the first Trump administration that shows no signs of slowing, despite overtures tech companies and their executives have made to the White House.

Assistant Attorney General Gail Slater and other DOJ antitrust officials were in the courtroom to show that the case, started under Trump and carried forward under former President Joe Biden, proposes “nonpartisan” remedies and has “the full support of the DOJ both past and present,” Dahlquist said.

Slater celebrated a win in another antitrust case against Google on Thursday over advertising technology. The case was filed during Biden’s term.

Meta Platforms (META.O) is facing its own antitrust trial over the acquisitions of Instagram and WhatsApp.