UK wants Google to offer you other search engines

The UK’s Competition and Markets Authority wants Google to include eligible AI assistants among the search services people can choose on Android and Chrome. Its revised proposal, published on September 23, would also require providers appearing on those screens to credit publisher content and make the original sources accessible.

The CMA announcement names ChatGPT and Perplexity as examples of changing search habits. Inclusion would depend on meeting eligibility criteria, including technical and security requirements.

The consultation closes on October 9. The CMA expects a final decision by the end of 2026.

What Google would have to change

Users would receive a choice of search providers at first use, with annual prompts to reconsider their default. The detailed consultation limits annual redisplay to new Android devices and Chrome on desktop and iOS, citing the complexity of applying it to older Android devices.

It also proposes a trial option, allowing users to try another default provider for a period the CMA says should be at least a week.

Qualifying services would need to handle general search tasks, provide current information and be capable of searching the web. They could use another company’s search index.

Access to users would come with a publisher condition

The proposed guidance says AI summaries must attribute web content clearly and accurately, with a clear way to access it. Providers would retain flexibility over how they present that attribution. assets.publishing.service.gov.uk

That ties a valuable distribution opportunity to how services treat their sources. An AI provider seeking a place in Google’s default-search selection would have to satisfy a publisher-facing condition alongside the technical ones. The freedom over presentation would still leave room for differences in how prominently each service displays its sources.

There is a related competition effort in the EU, where Google’s search-data licensing program gives qualifying rivals access to search signals. The UK proposal addresses a different obstacle: getting those rival services in front of people when they choose where to search.

Source: SER