Google and OpenAI are Interested in Buying Their Own Browser During the Fourth Day of the Justice Department’s Remedies Trial (Satisfy 2017)

During the fourth day of the Justice Department’s remedies trial, information came out. The DOJ has — among other proposals — requested Judge Amit Mehta break up Google by requiring it sell its Chrome browser, which the agency says is a key distribution channel for its popular search engine that’s amassed too much power for anyone else to compete. There are other companies interested in buying Chrome. While DuckDuckGo’s CEO said they wouldn’t be able to afford it, witnesses from Perplexity and OpenAI both expressed interest in the popular browser on the stand this week.

Let’s start with the why: a browser is a great way to promote your own search engine. Especially a browser that’s as widely used as Chrome. It’s obvious that it makes sense for Google to provide the default way to search the internet, as Chrome is made by them. Chrome is also the most widely used browser by a wide margin — it has an estimated two-thirds of browser market share — so that means that many, many, many more people are using Google Search instead of other search engines just because it’s the default there.

: ChatGPT’s head of product Nick Turley testified that OpenAI would be interested in buying the browser. OpenAI already has web search features baked into ChatGPT, so it makes sense that the company would be interested in owning a widely used browser to potentially bring ChatGPT to even more users . One of the reasons that OpenAI is a huge competitor is that they would probably be happy to own one of the prized assets.

: Perplexity also offers AI-powered search. The chief business officer testified Perplexity would be interested in buying Chrome. It is likely that it wants Chrome for the same reasons that Openai does: to get more people to use its services. It’s also already making its own browser , which Perplexity’s CEO says will help it build better agents and help it get data outside its app to “better understand” its users (and potentially show them personalized ads ).