Google avoids breakup as court ruling fuels AI Mode expansion
The judge’s refusal to split up Google highlights how AI competition like ChatGPT and Perplexity influenced the case, shifting the future of online search.
A US district judge has declined to order a breakup of Google, softening the blow of a 2024 ruling that found the company had illegally monopolised online search.
The decision means Google can press ahead with its shift from a search engine into an answer engine, powered by generative AI.
Google’s AI Mode replaces traditional blue links with direct responses to queries, echoing the style of ChatGPT. While the feature is optional for now, it could become the default.
That alarms publishers, who depend on search traffic for advertising revenue. Studies suggest chatbots reduce referral clicks by more than 90 percent, leaving many sites at risk of collapse.
Google is also experimenting with inserting ads into AI Mode, though it remains unclear how much revenue will flow to content creators. Websites can block their data from being scraped, but doing so would also remove them from Google search entirely.
Despite these concerns, Google argues that competition from ChatGPT, Perplexity, and other AI tools shows that new rivals are reshaping the search landscape.
The judge even cited the emergence of generative AI as a factor that altered the case against Google, underlining how the rise of AI has become central to the future of the internet.
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