The search engine will frequently favor responses crafted by artificial intelligence over website links, a shift promising to quicken the quest for information while also potentially disrupting the flow of money-making internet traffic.
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The courtroom showdown will pit lawyers from Google and the U.S. Department of Justice against each other in closing proceedings focused on the complex technology that distributes millions of digital ads across the internet each day.
The federal trial will revolve around the conduct that resulted in U.S. District Judge Leonie Brinkema declaring parts of Google’s digital advertising technology to be an illegal monopoly.
The Justice Department’s antitrust chief, Gail Slater, hailed the decision as a “major win for the American people,” even though the agency didn’t get everything it sought.
Apple sought to downplay the company’s struggles in AI, saying that the postponed Siri features were just a part of a broader push and that success in AI will be determined over the next several years.
Tens of thousands of users of Spotify, Discord and other platforms began noticing issues with their services around 1:50 p.m.
Justice Department lawyers who argued that a radical shake-up is needed to promote a free and fair market, while Google’s legal team argued that only minor concessions are needed.
Google has already vowed to appeal the ruling that branded its search engine as a monopoly, a step it can’t take until the judge orders a remedy.
The new feature makes interacting with Google’s search engine more like having a conversation with an expert capable of answering questions on just about any topic imaginable.
The heart of the dispute is Apple and Google’s estimated $20 billion-a-year deal that makes Google the default offering for queries in Apple’s included browser.
The government’s latest proposal was filed two-and-half weeks after a federal judge ruled that Google’s lucrative digital ad network has been improperly abusing its market power to stifle competition.
The drama will unfold in a Washington, D.C., courtroom during the next three weeks during hearings that will determine how the company should be penalized for operating an illegal monopoly in search.
The stage is also being set for what could turn out to be one of the most dramatic changes to the search engine’s interface since Google’s co-founders started the company in a Silicon Valley garage during the late 1990s.
The next generation of Google’s AI is being packaged under the Gemini umbrella.
The change is an effort to crack down on fraud. But legitimate small businesses could be hurt if they’re unaware of the change.
The government’s case alleges Google has built and maintained an illegal monopoly that restricts choices and inflates costs for online publishers and advertisers.
The Justice Department, joined by a coalition of states, and Google each made opening statements Monday to a federal judge who will decide whether Google holds a monopoly over online advertising technology.
The suit adds to a string of recent legal challenges to Google’s dominance, including court rulings that declared its search business and mobile app store to be illegal monopolies.
The ruling adds to the significant legal defeats that Google has been dealt in the past year.
In protesting the judge’s potential requirements, Google has raised the specter of consumers’ devices being infected by malicious software downloaded from third-party app stores, triggering “security chaos.”
What new ideas could flourish, which new companies might get off the ground or what products might be cheaper if Google were handcuffed from flexing its monopoly power over search?
