What is beneficial to one is beneficial to another. Microsoft returned to the courtroom to testify in another antitrust action more than 20 years after being dubbed a monopoly in the tech sector. This time, though, the narrative has been reversed, and the Redmond behemoth is speaking out against fellow IT colossus Google’s hegemony in the search market.
In a case looking at whether the search engine giant unlawfully maintains near total control over online search, Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella recently testified against Google. Everyone talks about the open web, but the reality is the Google web, according to Nadella, as reported by CNBC.
AI, according to Microsoft’s CEO, might only strengthen Google’s monopoly over search
In fact, he claimed that the use of artificial intelligence may make the Google web much more widespread. Google invested heavily in Anthropic and is incorporating AI into many of its products.
Nadella added, “I worry a lot that this vicious cycle I’m trapped in can become even more vicious,” adding that since Google has an unrivaled collection of web information, competing with it could “become even harder in the AI age.”
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According to CNBC, the CEO claimed that making progress in search would be “even worse of a nightmare.” There’s a new route to close down: content, which essentially fuels the influence of these LLMs.
Even still, Microsoft is a significant participant in AI as it invests heavily in OpenAI, the company that developed the popular generative AI tool ChatGPT, and is integrating AI into both its own line of business products and its Bing search engine in an effort to attract more users.
Additionally, Microsoft is bringing its Bing with AI to Meta, which is making its own significant investments in AI.
Nadella asserts that Google took the lead and maintained it because it was the industry’s preferred search engine.
He argued that defaults determine user behavior and that the idea that users have a choice is entirely false. Users can switch, without a doubt, but they won’t because of defaults.
The CEO of Microsoft claimed that despite repeated efforts and significant financial expense, Apple has so far resisted his company’s offers to persuade it to change Safari’s default search engine from Google to Bing.
Nadella discussed the challenges that Google’s firmly established market dominance presents to rivals like Bing. He said that despite spending more than $100 billion on Bing over several years, Microsoft only holds a single-digit market share. The addition of AI did increase traffic, but it wasn’t enough to seriously threaten Google’s 90% market share.
A civil antitrust case has been brought against Google by the Department of Justice (DOJ) and attorneys general from many states for violating the Sherman Act and monopolizing digital advertising technologies. The action is a part of a larger investigation into Google’s hegemony in the digital economy.
There are also continuing investigations into other anti-competitive activities, including one into Google Maps, and the DOJ has accused Google of destroying internal corporate communications during the investigations.
