The topic Apple warns EU against forcing Google to open Android to AI rivals is currently the subject of lively discussion — readers and analysts are keeping a close eye on developments.
This is taking place in a dynamic environment: companies’ decisions and competitors’ reactions can quickly change the picture.
Apple submitted a filing to the European Commission today criticizing proposed measures that would force Google to open parts of Android to rival AI services. Here are the details.
Last month, the European Commission proposed a series of measures designed to help Google comply with the region’s Digital Markets Act (DMA).
Among them were proposed changes that would give rival AI services better access to several Android capabilities, allowing them to interact with installed apps to perform tasks such as sending emails, ordering food, or sharing photos.
At the time, EU antitrust chief Teresa Ribera said that these “proposed measures (would) give more choice to Android users about the AI services they use and integrate in their phone.” Google, meanwhile, called them an “unwarranted intervention” that would undermine “critical privacy and security protections for European users,” according to the data Reuters.
At the time, the European Commission gave third parties until today, May 13, to submit feedback. The Commission is expected to issue its final decision in July on whether Google’s plan complies with the DMA.
Today, Apple submitted its own feedback, criticizing the EU’s proposed measures and warning that they could create “privacy, security, and safety” risks.
“The DMs (draft measures) raise urgent and serious concerns. If confirmed, they would create profound risks for user privacy, security, and safety as well as device integrity and performance,” Apple said in its submission.
“Those risks are especially acute in the context of rapidly evolving AI systems whose capabilities, behaviours, and threat vectors remain unpredictable as we are now seeing time and again,” it said.
Apple also reportedly argued that the European Commission is trying to redesign Android based on “less than three months of work,” replacing decisions made by Google’s own engineers over years of developing the operating system.