Google’s AI chatbot, Gemini, has rapidly expanded to over 350 million users worldwide as of March 2025, marking a significant milestone in the company’s AI endeavors. This growth, however, coincides with intensified antitrust scrutiny from U.S. regulators concerned about Google’s dominance in the search and AI markets.
The U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) has initiated a landmark antitrust trial against Google, accusing the tech giant of leveraging its dominance in online search and artificial intelligence to maintain and expand its monopoly. The DOJ seeks stringent remedies, including the possible sale of Google’s Chrome browser and the end of exclusive agreements with device manufacturers that set Google as the default search engine.
Prosecutors have highlighted a lucrative, undisclosed agreement between Google and Samsung for integrating Google’s Gemini AI app on Samsung devices. Internal documents suggest that Google considered more restrictive distribution agreements requiring partners to preinstall Gemini alongside Search and Chrome.
Despite Gemini’s impressive user growth, it still trails behind competitors like OpenAI’s ChatGPT and Meta’s AI, which reportedly have monthly active users of approximately 600 million and 500 million, respectively.
As the antitrust trial unfolds, the outcome could significantly impact Google’s operations and the broader AI landscape. The court’s decision may lead to structural changes within Google and set precedents for how tech giants integrate AI into their ecosystems.
