It would also require smartphone makers to offer users a choice of AI assistants.
The UK’s Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) is trying to introduce more search choices where Google has the tightest control: Android smartphones and the Chrome browser. The regulator proposed allowing users to choose their preferred search engine on these platforms so that Google’s search engine is not used automatically. The CMA also wants to change the rules around AI assistants and require search providers to give clearer attribution to publisher content when it is used. The new proposal follows measures recommended at the start of 2026.
The CMA’s latest proposal has three main recommendations. The first is to force smartphone makers Google and Android to offer buyers a choice of search platforms when they use their phone or open Chrome for the first time. This would be followed by an annual prompt. The second is to allow a choice of AI assistants, provided they meet certain technical and security requirements. Finally, the CMA wants all search engines to attribute publisher content when displaying search results, so that users can easily see and access these sources.
UK users can already choose their search engine on Android and Chrome, so the new proposal could simply be to codify that. However, annual reminders to choose a search engine on these platforms would be new.
“The way people search for information online is changing, with new services creating new opportunities for innovation and competition,” said Sarah Cardell, chief executive of CMA. “We’ve listened carefully to feedback and are responding quickly to the rise of AI assistants, which people are increasingly using as a search service, but which are not included on Google’s premium screens.
The new proposals follow the imposition of a new rule that allows publishers to opt out of AI results, imposed on June 3. On June 17, the CMA also introduced fair Google search ranking and data portability requirements.
Many territories, including Europe, already require smartphone makers to give buyers a choice of search engine and browser the first time they use it. For AI assistants, Google’s Gemini is still tightly integrated with Google Search, so there’s no way to change it yet. Apple, meanwhile, has reportedly introduced private hooks in macOS 27 and iOS 27 that will allow apps to replace the Siri AI server with third-party models like Claude, perhaps in anticipation of new rules regarding AI assistants.
