The U.S. authorities needs to show that Google’s opponents face overwhelming boundaries to entry as a part of its antitrust case towards the tech large. So it’s turning to ChaptGPT’s head of product, Nick Turley, to testify as a witness in hopes he’ll assist fortify its case.
In a landmark ruling final August, a courtroom decided that Google holds a monopoly in search. Whereas Google appeals this determination, the Division of Justice is now asking the courtroom to determine what penalties it ought to face, comparable to spinning off Chrome or a 10-year ban on releasing any browser product.
To bolster its case, the DOJ has pulled in varied Google opponents like OpenAI, Microsoft, and Perplexity. It needs particular executives, like Perplexity’s Chief Enterprise Officer Dmitry Shevelenko, to testify. (It’s not clear but whether or not Shevelenko will accomplish that. Perplexity didn’t reply instantly to a request for remark.)
Current authorized filings verify {that a} prime government from OpenAI, Nick Turley, head of product for ChatGPT, will testify as a witness for the U.S. authorities’s case.
“Mr. Turley is a witness handpicked by Plaintiffs [the DOJ] to testify on OpenAI’s behalf,” Google’s legal professionals wrote in a January 16 authorized submitting.
“Mr. Turley is the OpenAI witness who will testify on behalf of the federal government on the Evidentiary Listening to,” one other submitting from January 16 reads.
Not one of the filings specify precisely when Turley will testify. Turley is predicted to be requested by the U.S. about “generative AI’s relationship with Search Entry Factors, distribution, boundaries to entry and enlargement, and knowledge sharing,” per the submitting. The DOJ hasn’t supplied particulars about what it needs to ask Turley. (These are the very same subjects it needs to ask Perplexity’s CBO about.)
The DOJ makes use of the time period “search entry factors” to consult with merchandise like Google Chrome that individuals use to look the net. Notably, in October 2024, ChatGPT launched its personal AI search browser.
To organize itself for Turley’s testimony, Google has subpoenaed OpenAI for paperwork associated to the case. However the two firms are actually in a heated dispute over the extent of proof OpenAI ought to present.
In a authorized submitting on January 16, Google criticized OpenAI for producing “stunningly few paperwork.” OpenAI’s legal professionals fired again, noting that Google’s calls for for paperwork from prime executives like CEO Sam Altman look like a “Computer virus meant to harass OpenAI executives.”
OpenAI has agreed to share some paperwork from Turley’s work recordsdata about OpenAI’s technique on AI merchandise, its integration of AI into search-related merchandise, and its Microsoft partnership, a letter from OpenAI’s legal professionals exhibits.
Google says it wants extra paperwork from extra executives, as relying totally on Turley “would prejudice Google” since Turley is a witness “handpicked” by the U.S. authorities, in line with the submitting.
Google additionally needs paperwork from OpenAI that predate the launch of ChatGPT in November 2022, claiming these “might undermine Mr. Turley’s testimony concerning boundaries to entry in a means that post-launch paperwork wouldn’t.” However OpenAI says paperwork that outdated “can’t meaningfully characterize” the present AI panorama.
Each side seem at an deadlock and OpenAI has requested the courtroom reject the total scope of Google’s requested proof.
OpenAI and Google didn’t reply to requests for remark. The DOJ declined to remark.
TechCrunch has an AI-focused e-newsletter! Join right here to get it in your inbox each Wednesday.
