Google Defends Chrome's Deep Integration amid Antitrust Scrutiny

As per Chrome's head, the browser maintains its comprehensive feature set only due to its fundamental dependence on Alphabet Inc.'s different business units so Google remains the one firm capable of achieving this level of capability in Chrome.

“Chrome today represents 17 years of collaboration between the Chrome people” and the rest of Google, Parisa Tabriz, the browser’s general manager, said Friday as part of the Justice Department’s antitrust case in Washington federal court. “Trying to disentangle that is unprecedented. Some of the product’s features, such as its safe browsing mode or a system that notifies users if their password has been compromised, rely on shared Google infrastructure not solely within Chrome’s purview. I don’t think it could be recreated.”

The court hearing for Google under Judge Amit Mehta extended over multiple hours as Tabriz provided testimony regarding new requirements for Google following their antitrust conviction in the search market last year. The Justice Department seeks Google to sell Chrome browser while proposing data distribution for search results and banning Google from funding default engine placements. Under this proposed restriction all AI products of Google would be banned including Gemini because the government asserts that this technology gained advantages through illegal search dominance. Neurologically Chrome led all browsers worldwide in March holding approximately 66% of the market share per Statcounter.

“We envision a future of multiple agents, where Chrome integrates deeply with Gemini as a primary agent and one we’ll prioritize and enable users to engage with multiple 3P agents on the web in both consumer and enterprise settings,” Tabriz wrote in a 2024 email.

The Chrome browser derives from the Chromium Project's open-source code foundation while Microsoft and Meta and Linux Foundation among other companies make contributions to its development. The Chrome browser integrates AI features according to Tabriz while keeping Gemini as its default AI assistant but allowing users to add OpenAI's ChatGPT and Perplexity AI.