# EU mandates Google open Android to rival AI assistants, share search data

> The European Commission has issued binding rules ordering Google to open Android to rival AI assistants on the same terms it gives its own Gemini. Under specification decisions adopted in mid-July under the Digital Markets Act, third-party assistants must get access to eleven system-level features, including voice activation, on-screen content, sensor data and the ability to control apps, capabilities that until now were effectively reserved for Google's software. The order also forces Google to share anonymized search data, a nod to its roughly 90 percent share of EU search, with that sharing due to start in January 2027 and the Android changes following in July 2027. Noncompliance can trigger fines of up to 10 percent of global annual revenue. For anyone building an assistant that is not backed by a phone maker, this is significant. The hardest part of competing has been getting deep enough into the operating system to actually be useful. Brussels is trying to legislate that access into existence, and the rest of the industry will be watching whether it holds.

_Section: [Daily AI Updates](https://www.wortins.com/daily-ai) · Source: Fortune · Published Thursday, July 23, 2026_

## Wortins' read

The European Commission has issued binding rules ordering Google to open Android to rival AI assistants on the same terms it gives its own Gemini. Under specification decisions adopted in mid-July under the Digital Markets Act, third-party assistants must get access to eleven system-level features, including voice activation, on-screen content, sensor data and the ability to control apps, capabilities that until now were effectively reserved for Google's software. The order also forces Google to share anonymized search data, a nod to its roughly 90 percent share of EU search, with that sharing due to start in January 2027 and the Android changes following in July 2027. Noncompliance can trigger fines of up to 10 percent of global annual revenue. For anyone building an assistant that is not backed by a phone maker, this is significant. The hardest part of competing has been getting deep enough into the operating system to actually be useful. Brussels is trying to legislate that access into existence, and the rest of the industry will be watching whether it holds.

## Source

[Read the full story at Fortune](https://fortune.com/2026/07/17/europe-two-new-rules-google-change-way-ai-assistants-work-android-devices/)

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