Interoperability with Google's Android: EU Commission proposes measures

The EU Commission has sent its preliminary findings to the US tech giant Google as part of an investigation. The Commission announced this in a press release published on Sunday. The findings sent to Google outline the measures the company should implement to provide third parties with effective access to the key functions of Android and to ensure their interoperability.

At the end of January, the EU Commission initiated the statement of objections procedure and set Google a deadline of six months to remove any technical hurdles for competitors' AI assistants on Android. The European Union's supervisory authorities are examining whether Google is complying with the EU requirements under the Digital Markets Act (DMA) and treating competing AI software fairly on Android.

Interoperability for alternative AI service providers

“Given the rapidly evolving AI landscape, it is clear that interoperability is key to unlocking the full potential of these technologies,” said Henna Virkkunen, EU Commissioner for Technological Sovereignty, Security, and Democracy. “These measures will open up Android devices to a wider range of AI services, giving users the freedom to choose the AI services that best suit their needs and values, without compromising on functionality.”

The measures now proposed are intended to ensure, the EU Commission writes in its communication, “that competing AI services can effectively interact with applications on Android devices and perform tasks such as sending emails via the user's preferred email app, ordering food, or sharing photos with friends.”

Currently, Google reserves these functions largely for its AI offerings on Android smartphones and tablets, according to the Commission. The measures it proposes would, for example, allow users in the future to easily activate competing AI services via a custom “wake word.” Furthermore, the measures would enable competing AI service providers to drive innovation and offer deeply integrated AI experiences to users on Android smartphones and tablets alongside Alphabet's AI services, such as Gemini.

“The measures proposed today will offer Android users more choices regarding the AI services they use and integrate into their smartphones, including the wide range of AI services that compete with Google's own AI,” explained EU Competition Commissioner Teresa Ribera.

Call for comments

To ensure that the measures it proposes are effective, the EU Commission is inviting interested parties to submit their views as part of a public consultation. These comments can be submitted until May 13.

The Commission announces that it will carefully review the feedback from stakeholders and Google itself and adjust the proposed measures if necessary. The final decision will be issued by the supervisory authority within six months of the initiation of the statement of objections procedure on January 27. This will then contain the final binding measures, it was stated.

The European Digital Markets Act (DMA) has been in force since November 2022 and aims to limit the market power of so-called gatekeepers such as Google, Amazon, or Apple and to make competition in the digital sector fairer. According to the EU regulation, companies that offer central platform services and have a lasting significant influence on the EU internal market are classified as gatekeepers. At the beginning of the year, it became known that the EU Commission plans to enforce the digital legislation around the Digital Services Act (DSA) and DMA more decisively in 2026 more decisively.

(akn)