Sundar Pichai says the DOJ’s antitrust plan could kill Google Search
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Summary
During the trial of the US government’s battle to break up Google’s alleged search monopoly, CEO Sundar Pichai dismissed the proposed remedies as so anti-competitive they would kill Google’s incentive to improve its search function.
He suggested the government’s plan to force the company to share much of its search data and search index with competitors at a “marginal cost” would essentially allow competitors to copy Google’s technology and make it uneconomic to continue investing in innovation.
Pichai added that AI would transform Google Search, and maintained that search engines and AI chatbots did not compete in a zero-sum game, despite the government’s fears that Google’s monopoly could extend to AI.
Furthermore, he argued that Google should be able to continue to pay for search placement, as long as its deals are not exclusive, contending that no other company had made the same kind of investment that Google had made in these areas.
Pichai’s evident objective was to persuade Judge Mehta that the proposed changes wouldn’t just prop up competitors, but would also make it impossible for Google to continue being innovative.