The CMA wants AI assistants on Google's search choice screen
The Competition and Markets Authority published strengthened proposals on 23 September for a Google choice of search service on a new Android phone and the first time Chrome opens, then again every year. An AI assistant can join that list when it meets technical and security tests. The Next Web reports the same yearly prompt on Android and Chrome choice screens in the UK.
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A yearly screen, with assistants on it
The Competition and Markets Authority published strengthened proposals on 23 September. The text describes Google offering a choice of search service on first use of an Android phone and the first time Chrome opens, then asking again every year. An AI assistant can join the list when it meets technical and security tests. The Next Web reports that same package: AI assistants on Android and Chrome search choice screens in the UK, with yearly prompts to pick a default. Sarah Cardell, the authority's chief executive, said people already use assistants such as ChatGPT and Perplexity as a search service, and that those services are not on Google's screen.[1], [2]
Attribution, and a year-end decision
A provider on the screen has to attribute publisher content so a person can open the source page. Comments close on 9 October. The authority said its aim is a final decision by the end of the year. Google received strategic market status in general search in October 2025. Publisher controls took effect on 3 June, and fair ranking plus data portability on 17 June. The Next Web's account stays on the choice screen itself: assistants, Android, Chrome, and the yearly prompt, which is the piece the September proposals add to that earlier status.[1]
What the screen would ask
The practical change, if the proposals hold, is a repeated question on Google's own surfaces. A person opening an Android phone for the first time, or Chrome for the first time, would be offered a choice of search service, and the CMA wants that question asked again every year. An assistant gets onto that list only after technical and security tests. The Next Web describes the proposal as the UK choice screen toughening while AI assistants rise. Publisher attribution stays a condition of being on the screen, so a chosen service has to show where a page came from and let the reader open it.[1], [2]
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