EU Forces Google, Apple to Open AI Assistants by 2027
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- European Commission is demanding Google give other AI agents broader access to Android by July 2027 under the Digital Markets Act, and must begin sharing search data with rival search engines and AI chatbots starting January.
- Apple announced in June it would not launch its upgraded Siri AI assistant on EU iPhones and iPads, saying the DMA would force it to "give any virtual assistant direct access to users' private data."
- Google argues the Android changes would hand external apps "sensitive and powerful device permissions," and that search-data sharing would "weaken citizen privacy, risk business trade secrets and endanger national security."
- Apple and Google together control roughly 5 billion active Android phones and iPhones worldwide, with about 427 million of those devices falling under EU regulation, according to Omdia.
- ChatGPT is already installed on roughly 30% of EU smartphones, and Omdia analyst Runar Bjorhovde said DMA enforcement could let users route tasks like booking an Uber through third-party AI assistants, "completely bypassing the need to engage with Android."
- Electronic Privacy Information Center senior counsel Calli Schroeder said regulators should "take these tech companies' arguments with a grain of salt," questioning whether privacy is really Google's primary motivation for resisting.
Why it matters: Roughly 427 million EU smartphones sit at the center of a fight that could let ChatGPT and rival AI assistants bypass Android and iOS entirely. Apple has already yielded by withholding its upgraded Siri from the region; Google now faces a January search-data deadline and a July 2027 Android mandate. If both companies lose this clash, OpenAI gains a structural distribution foothold on the world's two dominant mobile platforms without paying for placement.
