US court rules Google's illegal monopoly in the search market, well-known influencer: Apple AI is expected to offset the impact

According to the financial news app Zhitong Finance, Google (GOOGL.US) lost the antitrust lawsuit filed by the U.S. Department of Justice, casting a shadow over its partner Apple (AAPL.US), as Apple receives about $20 billion in payment revenue from Google annually.

On Monday, Apple's stock price fell by nearly 5% after a judge ruled that the fees Google pays to device manufacturers in exchange for making its search engine the default option are illegal. This ruling marks the first major antitrust case victory against a large tech company by the U.S. Department of Justice in over 20 years.

Renowned leaker Mark Gurman stated that for Apple, this jeopardizes a revenue source that has helped boost sales in recent years. However, the iPhone maker has reduced its reliance on traditional internet search. As Apple improves its Siri digital assistant to handle queries more flexibly and integrates AI chatbots into its software, Apple is betting that AI technology will eventually dominate.

Apple is integrating OpenAI's ChatGPT feature into its software and hopes that Google's Gemini chatbot can do the same. Over time, the company can guide consumers to use AI and Siri instead of web browsers.

This will give Apple the opportunity to reach new non-exclusive agreements with AI providers, including Google, without conflicting with the U.S. government. However, it may take Apple many years to reap huge profits from AI.

For Google, this decision is somewhat bittersweet as it has been paying Apple substantial fees to make its search engine the default option.

"In the short term, this can actually save them a lot of money," said Ari Paparo, an advertising entrepreneur who previously worked at Google.

Monday's ruling did not specify how Google can comply with the government, but Judge Amit Mehta plans to hold a hearing next month to discuss the timing of a separate trial on this issue. As one of the remedies, the court is unlikely to force Apple to give up Google as a search partner, but it may change the terms of the agreement and create a fair competitive environment.

One theoretical scenario is that when consumers first open a new device, Apple will offer them different search engine options. The operation of such a system is similar to a menu on Apple devices in the EU, offering a choice of web browsers.

With this approach, Google remains an option, but customers can also choose alternatives like Microsoft (MSFT.US) Bing or DuckDuckGo. Currently, users need to delve into iPhone settings applications to change the default search engine.

Mehta stated in the ruling that the lucrative agreement with Google hindered Apple from "being able to do so in other ways" to launch its search engine.

Former Google executive John Giannandrea is in charge of AI at Apple, and he has a search team working for him. However, they are more focused on the search functionality of Apple's software rather than Google-style web queries Nevertheless, Apple's interface will undergo changes in the coming months. The company will introduce its new artificial intelligence toolkit, Apple Intelligence, which could ultimately change how people use iPhones and other devices.

These changes include a new "Type to Siri" method, which allows users to interact with the virtual assistant more easily without having to speak to it. This will enable users to send queries to the AI engine from anywhere within the iPhone, iPad, or Mac operating system