Google holds exclusive rights to operate Chrome, asserts browser leader in court
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Google's Chrome browser, a powerhouse prowling the digital landscape for nearly two decades, sports dependencies that tie it tightly to other components within Alphabet Inc., according to Parisa Tabriz, Chrome's general manager. She spilled these details during her testimony at a three-week hearing in Washington's federal court, overseen by Judge Amit Mehta, as part of the Justice Department's antitrust case.
"Chrome today reflects 17 years of ol' ball and chain bonding between the Chrome gang and the greater Google hordes," Tabriz stated frankly on Friday. "Prying that apart is as wild west as it gets."
Diverse features such as the safe browsing mode and the password warning system depend on shared Google infrastructure not solely under the jurisdiction of Chrome, she acknowledged.
"I reckon it ain't recreatable," Tabriz added.
Tabriz's lengthy testimony aimed to shed light on what shifts might be required from Google's business practices, following Mehta's determination last year that Google had illegally dominated the search market.
The Justice Department has proposed forcing Google to sell its Chrome browser, share some data essential to producing search results, and ban Google from paying for default search engines. This proposed ban would extend to Google's AI products, like Gemini, which the government alleges were aided by Google's illegal search monopoly.
Google's Chrome, its very own proprietary browser, dominates the global scene, with an estimated 66% of worldwide users, as per Statcounter, making it the most popular browser. Secretly though, it piles upon the open-source Chromium Project, initially nurtured by Google. Chromium now boasts support from tech titans like Meta Platforms Inc., Microsoft Corp., and the Linux Foundation, among others.
James Mickens, a computer science expert witnessing for the Justice Department, opined that transferring ownership of Chrome to another party is achievable without obscuring its functionality.
"Spinnin' Chrome to another outfit is doable tech-wise," said Mickens, a Harvard University computer science professor and a previous tech expert for Fortnite-maker Epic Games Inc. in its antitrust case against Google. "It'd be doable to transfer ownership without breakin' too much."
But Tabriz questioned this, stating that Google has contributed over 90% of the Chromium code since 2015. "Google pumps hundreds of millions into Chromium," she said, emphasizing that over a thousand engineers within her division have conjured up Chromium. Other companies, she contended, "ain't adding nothin' of consequence."
Google has been experimenting with AI integrations within Chrome, enabling users to add OpenAI's ChatGPT and Perplexity AI extensions or fine-tune their search settings to freely utilize any AI models. However, Tabriz admitted that Gemini currently serves as the default AI assistant within Chrome.
"Browsers is dabblin' in AI and bringin' on fresh features," she noted, highlighting Microsoft's integration of its AI Copilot into its search engine Bing and browser Edge.
In confidential internal documents, Google detailed its plans to morph Chrome into an "agentgator browser," incorporating AI agents to automate tasks and manipulate forms, research, and shopping.
"We envision a future with multiple agents, where Chrome and Gemini are tight-knit like a big ol' tangle," Tabriz penned in a 2024 missive. "We got a hankerin' to foster a relationship with Gemini and enable users to engage with third-party agents on the web both in consumer and enterprise settings."
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- Google's Chrome, dominated by the company despite being used by 66% of worldwide users, relies on shared infrastructure with other Alphabet Inc. components, as stated by Parisa Tabriz, the browser's general manager.
- The Justice Department proposes Google sell its Chrome browser, share essential data for search results, and ban Google from paying for default search engines, as part of the antitrust case, according to Tabriz's testimony at a three-week hearing.
- James Mickens, a computer science expert, testified that transferring ownership of Chrome to another party is technologically feasible.
- In her testimony, Tabriz emphasized that Google has contributed over 90% of the Chromium code since 2015 and that over a thousand engineers from her division have worked on Chromium.
- Google has plans to transform Chrome into an "agentgator browser," incorporating AI agents to automate tasks, as detailed in confidential internal documents.
- Tabriz foresees a future where Chrome and Gemini will work closely, enabling users to interact with third-party AI agents in both consumer and enterprise settings, as she wrote in a 2024 missive.
