UK CMA opens door for AI assistants to compete on Google search choice screens

The UK’s Competition and Markets Authority has revised its plan to include AI-powered search tools like ChatGPT on Android and Chrome, aiming to increase user control and reflect the evolving landscape of search technology.

Britain’s Competition and Markets Authority has revised its plan for how Google must present search alternatives to UK users, and for the first time it would allow AI assistants such as ChatGPT and Perplexity to compete for a place on the screen, provided they meet the regulator’s technical, security and performance tests. According to the CMA, the proposal is intended to give Android and Chrome users more meaningful control over their default search service while reflecting a market in which generative AI tools are increasingly being used for search-like tasks.

The consultation covers a proposed user choice screen that would appear on new Android devices and, in some cases, when Chrome is first opened on desktop and iOS. Users would be shown a list of eligible services and could also try a rival for at least a week before settling on a default. The CMA says the screen would be repeated annually in a limited, skippable form, creating a continuing prompt rather than a one-off setup decision.

The revised draft is notable for how it redraws the boundary of what counts as a search service. The regulator says the line between conventional search engines and AI-based services is now increasingly blurred, and it no longer wants to exclude products simply because they use an AI interface. That marks a significant shift from the earlier draft, which had been framed more tightly around traditional search providers. The CMA is consulting on the changes until 9 October 2026 and expects to decide on the final version later in the year.

Eligibility would still depend on a set of technical criteria. The CMA says any provider must cover the full range of general search use cases, function properly on the relevant devices or browsers, and be regarded as a general search service by a meaningful proportion of UK users. It has also removed an earlier requirement that a service must be marketed with search as its core and central purpose, saying that test was too rigid and would not reflect the way search tools are now evolving.

The document also places strong emphasis on transparency and attribution. Providers that use generative AI to summarise web content would need to attribute sources clearly and give users a straightforward route to the underlying material. The CMA has linked that requirement to its wider concern that, if AI assistants are to sit alongside search engines on the same choice screen, users must still be able to understand where information comes from and how it was assembled.

Google would continue to run the approval process, but the company would have to assess applicants against the CMA’s criteria on a six-monthly basis and provide written reasons for any rejection. The regulator is also proposing a device-level default setting on Android, plus APIs and deep links that would make it easier for rival services to show whether they are set as default and to direct users into the relevant settings. The CMA says the aim is not just to present a menu, but to make the choice durable across the search app, widget and browser.

The proposal arrives as the regulator argues that Google’s position in UK search remains powerful enough to justify intervention. In its latest materials, the CMA points to the scale of the search advertising market and to rising use of AI assistants as reasons for keeping the framework technology-neutral. It is also trying to balance that objective against user disruption, which is why the revised plan narrows the test-drive and annual reminder features compared with earlier versions. For search rivals, including AI providers, the practical issue is not merely whether they can appear on the screen, but whether the design of that screen gives them a genuine chance of being chosen.