EU tells Google to open up Android AI; Google calls it ‘unwarranted intervention’

The European Commission has been poking around Google’s AI integration on Android since January, and now we have the preliminary results. They’re basically what you’d expect: the EU thinks Android needs to be more open, and Google thinks that’s an “unwarranted intervention.”

This is all part of the Digital Markets Act (DMA), which labels Google (and six other big tech companies) as “gatekeepers” that need extra rules to keep things fair. Google has been fighting these regulations since day one, but the DMA has been in effect for a few years now, and there’s zero chance the EU is backing down.

The specific issue here is Gemini‘s default status on Android. When you fire up a new Android phone, Gemini is already there, deeply integrated at the system level. The Commission is saying that third-party AI services don’t get the same treatment — they can’t access the same system hooks or offer the same seamless experiences. That’s a problem under the DMA.

Google’s defense is predictable: they argue that Android is already open, and that forcing them to give competitors the same level of access would compromise security and user experience. But the EU isn’t buying it. If this preliminary finding holds, Google could be forced to make changes as early as this summer.

Honestly, this feels like a continuation of the same battle we’ve been watching for years. Google has been fined billions under EU antitrust rules before, and it hasn’t changed their attitude much. The difference this time is that the DMA gives the Commission more direct power to dictate how products are designed, not just slap fines after the fact.

What I’m curious about is how this plays out in practice. Will Google have to let third-party assistants like Alexa or Copilot access the same wake-word detection, lock screen integration, or hardware acceleration that Gemini gets? That’s a nontrivial engineering challenge, and Google will almost certainly drag its feet.

But the clock is ticking. The Commission has made it clear they want action, not promises. If Google doesn’t move fast enough, we could see another round of fines or even structural remedies. Either way, Android’s AI landscape is about to get a lot more interesting.