The European Commission has issued preliminary findings to Google outlining measures the company must take to give third-party AI services the same access to Android features currently reserved for its own Gemini AI.
The proposed measures, released April 27 as part of proceedings under the Digital Markets Act, would require Google to open Android’s hardware and software capabilities to competing AI providers. Rival AI providers are currently locked out of Android functions that Gemini can already perform, among them composing and sending emails, placing food orders, sharing photos, and adjusting hardware settings like screen brightness.
Under the draft rules, users could invoke third-party AI services by speaking a personalized trigger phrase, and those services could be wired into device-level entry points, including the long-press gesture on the home button. Access to app data stored on the device — enabling proactive, context-aware suggestions — would likewise be extended to outside providers, the Commission said.
“Today’s proposed measures will give more choice to Android users about the AI services they use and integrate in their phone, including from the vast range of AI services that compete with Google’s own AI,” E.U. antitrust chief Teresa Ribera said in a statement.
Google pushed back on the proposal. “This unwarranted intervention would strip away that autonomy, mandate access to sensitive hardware and device permissions; unnecessarily driving up costs while undermining critical privacy and security protections for European users,” Clare Kelly, the company’s senior competition counsel, said in an email.
Specification proceedings in this matter got underway on Jan. 27, 2026, giving the Commission a six-month window to hand down a final, enforceable ruling. Companies found in violation of the DMA can face penalties reaching 10% of their worldwide annual revenue.
A public consultation is open through May 13, after which the Commission will weigh submissions from outside stakeholders alongside Google’s own response; depending on what those submissions contain, the final measures could look different from what was proposed.
Coverage of the requirements would extend across the full Android hardware ecosystem — meaning OEM-built devices are included — and Google’s parent company Alphabet would be barred from charging third parties for the interoperability it must provide.
A separate but related action, announced in mid-April, takes aim at Google Search rather than Android: that proceeding would compel Google to share anonymized query and ranking data with outside search engines and AI chatbot providers on terms that are fair, reasonable, and non-discriminatory.