Google executives confirm "bias": key search data exclusively provided to Gemini, refusing to support competing AI
Google executives confirmed that key search data is still exclusively provided for its own AI service Gemini and refused to share it with competitors. This practice may support the claims of antitrust regulators. Google stated in court that although it has opened search results to some AI companies, the search capabilities available to Gemini are superior. Google's Vertex AI platform will launch a "traceability" service in 2024, allowing AI models to access search results to enhance answer accuracy
According to Zhitong Finance APP, a Google (GOOGL.US) executive confirmed that although the company opened channels last year for some artificial intelligence companies to use search results to support chatbot responses, it still reserves key features for its own AI service—Gemini. On Tuesday, Liz Reed, head of Google's search business, explained in court how Google's parent company Alphabet handles requests from AI models to use its data.
The U.S. Department of Justice previously proposed requiring Google to share a large amount of data used to build search results, which Google has consistently opposed. Reed confirmed that Google's current practices favor its own AI services, and this testimony may support antitrust regulators' push for a more competitive industry environment.
Starting in May 2024, Google launched a "traceability" service in its application development platform Vertex AI on its cloud service platform Google Cloud. This service allows AI models to call Google web search results to assist in generating response content, thereby improving answer accuracy. Court documents show that more than ten companies are currently using this service, but the specific names of the companies have been redacted.
In response to questions from government lawyers, Reed acknowledged that companies paying to use the "traceability" service through Vertex AI have access to different data compared to what is obtained by Gemini, which is a Google product.
When discussing Vertex AI, Reed stated, "The web search results it provides are the same." However, Google provides "additional search results" for Gemini in the form of features such as knowledge graphs (used to describe relationships between entities) and one-stop information boxes (which can instantly display sports scores, flight information, and other query results).
Reed took over as head of Google's search business in 2024 and has led several significant changes in Google search in recent years, including the launch of the AI overview feature, which directly responds to some search queries using AI.
Last year, U.S. District Court Judge Amit Mehta ruled that Google illegally monopolized the online search market. The judge is currently conducting a three-week hearing to determine what corrective measures should be required of Google.
The U.S. Department of Justice is asking Mehta to compel Google to share a large amount of data used to build search results, aimed at helping AI companies develop their own search indexes for information traceability.
Court documents show that the AI startup Anthropic PBM had applied for more access to Google search data for its Claude model, but Reed stated that it is still uncertain whether that request was approved. Google has invested approximately $3 billion in Anthropic, which is also backed by Amazon.
Meta Platforms CEO Mark Zuckerberg has publicly stated that the company's AI models use Google services for information traceability. Earlier in this trial, an executive from OpenAI revealed that the ChatGPT developer had approached Google last August to seek access to its search index but was denied.
In her testimony, Reed described the DOJ's data-sharing proposal as "broad and invasive of privacy," stating that if implemented, it would provide competitors with a "treasure trove of data," making them targets for hacking. She also estimated that if the DOJ's proposal were approved, Google would have to reallocate up to 2,000 engineers from product optimization to compliance issues During the questioning session, Reid admitted that the estimate had not yet been communicated internally within the company and stated that it was merely a "rough estimate" she discussed with the Google legal team.
Reid also criticized another proposal put forward by the Department of Justice, which aimed to give websites more authority to choose not to integrate Google AI products. She stated that Google currently provides some opt-out options for websites, but the level of detail proposed by the Department of Justice is "difficult to implement" because Google does not use independent models for every feature
