TL;DR

  • Perplexity CEO Aravind Srinivas alleges that Google pressures partners to set its Gemini AI assistant as default to secure revenue shares from its services.
  • This claim adds to the ongoing rivalry between Perplexity and Google, with the latter introducing AI features to counter competition.
  • The allegations coincide with an antitrust lawsuit against Google, highlighting potential coercive bundling practices.
  • Google has yet to respond to these serious accusations.

Perplexity CEO Aravind Srinivas is stirring up conversation, with claims that Google is pressuring partners to set its AI assistant, Gemini, as default if they want to keep revenue shares from Google Play Store and Google Ads.

Srinivas made these allegations public via a tweet, stating that Google is engaging in the practice despite the fact that its Gemini assistant has no connection to the Play Store or Ads services.

The AI executive’s revelation intensifies the rivalry between the two companies, with Perplexity being a notable competitor to Google’s search offerings.

Unlike Google, Perplexity offers an alternative platform focusing on AI-driven search capabilities, challenging the prevailing market structures. Google has brought in “AI overviews” as a beta feature to its search engine in bid to fend-off the new AI-based products.

The fact that the allegations are being made by the Perplexity CEO is important given that the U.S. Department of Justice wants a fellow executive from his company — Perplexity Chief Business Officer — to testify in its antitrust lawsuit against the search giant.

The latest allegations of coercive bundling can potentially add more scrutiny to Google’s operations.

Dzambhala has written to Google for a response in relation to the allegations but was yet to receive a response at the time of writing.

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