For several months, Google has been facing a major antitrust lawsuit. The U.S. Department of Justice accuses the tech giant of anticompetitive practices aimed at maintaining its monopoly on online search and browser distribution. Several services are targeted, but it is Chrome (which holds nearly 65% of the market share) that is crystallizing the political and economic tensions of the case. The justice system is notably examining the possibility of forcing Google to sell off its flagship browser to re-establish free competition, a move reminiscent of the breakup of AT&T in the 1980s.
Can OpenAI really buy Chrome?
It was in this context that Nick Turley, head of ChatGPT at OpenAI, was called to testify. When asked about OpenAI's interest in Chrome, his response was clear: “Yes, we would, as would many others, among the candidates to acquire the browser in the event of a forced sale. Already As a Microsoft partner (owner of Bing), OpenAI logically sees Chrome as a strategic opportunity to accelerate the distribution of its products and offer an enriched user experience.
ChatGPT already benefits from a Chrome extension, but its integration remains superficial. Turley explained that more advanced control of the browser would allow the creation of “a truly incredible experience“, where AI would be natively integrated into web browsing. Enough to revolutionize online search, and usher in the future of AI browsers, no less. If the American justice system follows through on its logic, OpenAI's acquisition of Chrome could usher in a new era, where AI-first would become the heart of browsing. It remains to be seen whether this revolution would truly benefit users, or if it would simply shift the center of gravity of digital power.
A major challenge for OpenAI
Despite an agreement to integrate ChatGPT into Apple's products, OpenAI is struggling to establish itself on Android. Integrating ChatGPT and other generative AI tools directly into the browser would open the way to new uses: assisted navigation, intelligent search, automatic content generation, advanced personalization of the user experience. OpenAI could thus transform Chrome into a proactive interface, capable of understanding the intentions of Internet users and offering them answers, summaries or recommendations in real time. In this case, it would be difficult for Google to do without Gemini's competitor.
Google, for its part, disputes the need to sell Chrome and announces that it intends to appeal the judge's decision, which ruled in 2024 that the company had abused its dominant position. The group argues that such radical measures would harm the user experience and innovation, while pointing out that competition remains fierce with Safari (Apple), Edge (Microsoft) and Firefox (Mozilla).
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