OpenAI’s Bid To Get Google’s Search Data

Hello! Erin here, reporting from the E. Barrett Prettyman Courthouse in Washington, D.C. as federal judge Amit Mehta oversees a hearing on how to remedy Google’s illegal search monopoly.

Much of the trial so far has centered not on Google’s traditional search engine—famous for its blue links—but on the AI-powered search market, as the government has sought to convince Mehta that Google shouldn’t be allowed to parlay its dominance in search into generative AI. Accordingly, one big focus has been the power of Google’s search data when it comes to AI products and AI models. 

Among other remedies, the Justice Department and a coalition of states that are part of the case on the government’s side have asked Mehta to force Google to share its search index and click-and-query data. The DOJ also wants Google to have to divest its Chrome browser, and to end Google’s exclusive distribution deals through which it gets the search app preloaded on Android phones. 

On Tuesday, OpenAI’s head of product for ChatGPT, Nick Turley, testified that last July, OpenAI tried to get access to Google’s search data as it tried to build its own competitor, SearchGPT. Google’s data would have helped OpenAI with the difficult “long tail” of uncommon searches, Turley testified.