ChromeGPT? OpenAI Could Buy Chrome If Google Is Forced to Sell World's Most Popular Internet Browser

Amid the speculation that Google may be forced to divest Chrome and sell it off, OpenAI has shown interest in buying the world’s most popular internet browser. During Google’s trial before the US Department of Justice, ChatGPT head of product Nick Turley said OpenAI would buy Google Chrome.

The ongoing trial against Google for its anti-competitive practices could result in a divestment of Chrome to restore market competition. This is a follow-up to last year’s ruling by Judge Amit Mehta, which termed Google a monopolist in the online search market, preventing new options from emerging. Since the trial is underway, any order for Google to sell Chrome will take months — if not years — depending on the outcome. Google Chrome is currently not for sale.

However, Turley, who said OpenAI is interested in Chrome, revealed an internal document, saying Google is not its competition in the consumer chatbot market, according to Reuters. He testified that the document was aimed at inspiring employees at OpenAI. And even though ChatGPT is far ahead of Google’s Gemini in popularity, buying Chrome would help the company diversify its business, especially when it prepares to go for-profit.

ChromeGPT?

An OpenAI-owned Chrome would prioritise ChatGPT and the company's other services instead of Google, causing a shift in how most internet users access Google's services across devices.

According to Turley, OpenAI previously discussed collaboration with Google, proposing a Google Search integration into ChatGPT for better results. “We believe having multiple partners, and in particular Google’s API, would enable us to provide a better product to users,” OpenAI told Google in its pitch.

However, Google showed no interest, saying a partnership like that would involve several competitors. Google’s refusal to OpenAI makes sense because it wanted its Gemini AI services to lead the market, especially after it missed the window to preempt ChatGPT’s surge in adoption in 2023.

The existing search technology in ChatGPT allows it to fetch information from Microsoft Bing, but he testified that OpenAI has had “significant quality issues” with its “Provider No. 1” without mentioning Microsoft’s name.

“We have no partnership with Google today,” said Turley.

OpenAI’s aspirations

What started as an AI company, OpenAI seeks to become an equivalent to Google, Meta, or X. Its chief Sam Altman has occasionally said that OpenAI wants to launch its social network and a search engine. Several previous reports have shown internal developments in the company towards these goals.

OpenAI is also working on its search index, which would make ChatGPT offer results faster, without relying on a search engine like Microsoft Bing or Google Search. However, these services are expected to “take years.”

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