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DOJ: Google Can Keep AI Investments but Must Sell Chrome | PYMNTS.com

Mar 09, 2025 - pymnts.com
The Justice Department has dropped its attempt to force Google to sell its AI investments but is still pursuing a court order to compel the company to sell its Chrome browser, following a judge's ruling that Google maintained an illegal search monopoly. The DOJ and state attorneys general sued Google in 2020 for allegedly engaging in unlawful competitive practices to maintain its search and advertising dominance. A judge has sided with prosecutors, and evidence on how to proceed will be heard in April. Google argues that the DOJ's proposals exceed the court's decision and would harm consumers, the economy, and national security.

In related news, Google has introduced a new search capability called "AI mode," which enhances its AI Overviews feature. This experimental offering can perform advanced reasoning and thinking, with multimodal capabilities to understand various content types beyond text. It allows users to ask follow-up queries and is particularly useful for questions requiring further exploration and comparisons. Google launched AI Overviews in the U.S. in May to provide AI-generated summaries from multiple sources alongside search results.

Key takeaways:

  • The Justice Department has dropped its bid to force Google to sell its AI investments but is still seeking a court order for Google to sell its Chrome browser.
  • Prosecutors argue that Google's monopoly distorts the market, impacting freedoms like speech, association, innovation, and competition.
  • Google's AI investment in Anthropic is under scrutiny, with Anthropic arguing that severing ties would harm competition.
  • Google has introduced an experimental search feature called "AI mode," which enhances reasoning and multimodal capabilities in search queries.
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