Google CEO Sundar Pichai

Late on Wednesday, the U.S. Department of Justice filed sweeping proposals for remedies in Google’s landmark antitrust case, where a federal judge ruled earlier this year that it has an illegal monopoly in the online search market. Among the marquee requests: Forcing Google to sell off its popular Chrome browser, banning multi-billion dollar distribution contracts like the one Google has with Apple, or potentially barring Google from requiring Android phone makers to include Google apps on their devices.

But beyond those headline-grabbing demands, the government also included provisions that could hobble Google’s future in the competitive race to control the future of AI. The DOJ proposed Google must sell any stakes in AI companies with technology that could compete in search, and divest within six months of a final judgment from the court. The agency also recommended barring any new acquisitions, joint ventures or partnerships with AI companies competing in search.

Notably, if the judge in the case agrees, that could mean forcing Google to sell off its investment in Anthropic, the firm founded by OpenAI defectors in 2021 and could reportedly be valued at up to $40 billion. Last year, Google said it would invest $2 billion in Anthropic, following a $4 billion deal Amazon announced with the company months before. On Wednesday, regulators in the U.K. cleared the investment from Google, saying it wouldn’t conduct a full-scale investigation to scrutinize the deal after an initial probe.

Anthropic is the maker of Claude, a language model that can generate answers to questions, similar to Google’s own Gemini model, which was integrated into Google’s search engine earlier this year. While the startup doesn’t pitch Claude as a search product,........

© Forbes