Only Google capable of running Chrome: Browser chief tells court
What's the story
Google's General Manager for Chrome, Parisa Tabriz, has testified in an antitrust case that only her company can match the unique features and functionality of its popular web browser, Chrome.
Tabriz's statement came during a US Department of Justice (DOJ) antitrust case in Washington federal court.
She emphasized, "Chrome today represents 17 years of collaboration between the Chrome people and the rest of Google."
Testimony
Unique features reliant on shared Google infrastructure
Tabriz further explained that some features of Chrome, like its safe browsing mode and a system alerting users about compromised passwords, rely on shared Google infrastructure.
"Trying to disentangle that is unprecedented," she said.
Tabriz also doubted the possibility of replicating these features elsewhere, saying, "I don't think it could be recreated."
Antitrust case
DOJ's request to force Google to divest Chrome
The DOJ has asked Judge Amit Mehta, who is overseeing a three-week hearing on Google's business practices, to force the tech giant to divest its Chrome browser.
This comes after last year's finding that Google illegally monopolized the search market.
The DOJ is also eyeing an order preventing Google from paying for search engine defaults and sharing some of the data it collects for its search results.
Browser dominance
Chrome's global popularity and technical contributions
As of March, Chrome remains the world's most popular browser, being used by some 66% of people around the globe.
It is based on the open-source Chromium Project, which was developed by Google and receives technical contributions from other companies.
However, Tabriz noted that since 2015, Google has contributed more than 90% of the code for Chromium and invests hundreds of millions into it.
AI development
Google's AI integration into Chrome
Google has been working on bringing artificial intelligence into the Chrome browser.
Now, users can add extensions for OpenAI's ChatGPT and Perplexity AI to Chrome or tweak settings to enable searches with any AI models.
In internal documents, Google said it wants to evolve Chrome into an "agentic browser," which would include AI agents for automating tasks like form filling, research, or shopping.