Android AI Violates DMA
The issue before the commission currently is the built-in advantage for Gemini on Android. When you turn on any Google-powered Android phone, Gemini is already there and gets special treatment at the system level. The European Commission is taking aim at the lack of features available to third-party AI services. The commission believes that there are too many experiences on Android that only work with Google’s Gemini AI, and as a gatekeeper, Google must change that.
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European regulators are proposing several broad changes to the way AI tools operate on Android phones. Some of this is straightforward, like allowing third-party AI tools to be invoked system-wide via hot words or button presses. This might also include allowing AI tools to view screen context when the user opens them.
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Many of the Gemini AI features in Android, including Magic Cue, rely on running local models, and Google has been slow to allow third parties the system access to make that work effectively. So the EU is also suggesting a mandate that would ensure developers have the necessary hardware access to run local models “with high levels of performance, availability and responsiveness.”
Via John Gruber:
The difference between Google and Apple on this front is that Google just blazed ahead and shipped Gemini integrated into Android in the EU, and is now facing compliance problems after shipping. (Ask forgiveness.) Apple isn’t shipping Siri AI in the EU in iOS 27, knowing that it’s going to be deemed non-compliant. (Ask permission.)
Previously:
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There is no material difference between Google and Apple's position. Gruber is just Apple-fanboying at this point. Apple doesn't actually want to do anything the EU would force it to do, which is make AI bot slop agnostic on dominant phone platforms. The end result is the same: on both Apple and Google's platforms, AI bot slop is locked to whatever the platform gives you.
I'm so tired of Apple weblogs fawning all over themselves about slight differences in Apple's actions compared to other companies. At this point, Apple is exactly the same as anyone else. It's a generic tech company, with generic tech, that is pushing buggy features on a yearly release cadence because of agile sprint planning which supposedly improves performance, and that also wants to cash in on the AI bot slop gold rush. Everything that Apple ever used to differentiate itself from other tech companies has been lost.
@Simone I do think the forgiveness/permission point is a good one. Not sure what the end result will be, but the current situation is very different in that Android phones do have Gemini in the EU.
"Asking permission" is a very rosy way to frame withholding multiple features (of which Siri AI is just one) as a hardball negotiating tactic against the EU. This same action can be portrayed as either submissive or strident, depending on which view is more advantageous to Apple at any moment.
