The U.S. authorities needs to show that Google’s rivals face overwhelming limitations to entry as a part of its antitrust case towards the tech large. So it’s turning to ChaptGPT’s head of product, Nick Turley, to testify as a witness in hopes he’ll assist fortify its case.
In a landmark ruling final August, a court docket decided that Google holds a monopoly in search. While Google appeals this choice, the Department of Justice is now asking the court docket to determine what penalties it ought to face, equivalent to spinning off Chrome or a 10-year ban on releasing any browser product.
To bolster its case, the DOJ has pulled in numerous Google rivals like OpenAI, Microsoft, and Perplexity. It needs particular executives, like Perplexity’s Chief Business Officer Dmitry Shevelenko, to testify. (It’s not clear but whether or not Shevelenko will accomplish that. Perplexity didn’t reply instantly to a request for remark.)
Recent authorized filings affirm {that a} high government from OpenAI, Nick Turley, head of product for ChatGPT, will testify as a witness for the U.S. authorities’s case.
“Mr. Turley is a witness handpicked by Plaintiffs [the DOJ] to testify on OpenAI’s behalf,” Google’s legal professionals wrote in a January 16 authorized submitting.
“Mr. Turley is the OpenAI witness who will testify on behalf of the federal government on the Evidentiary Hearing,” one other submitting from January 16 reads.
None of the filings specify precisely when Turley will testify. Turley is predicted to be requested by the U.S. about “generative AI’s relationship with Search Access Points, distribution, limitations to entry and growth, and information sharing,” per the submitting. The DOJ hasn’t supplied particulars about what it needs to ask Turley. (These are the very same subjects it needs to ask Perplexity’s CBO about.)
The DOJ makes use of the time period “search entry factors” to discuss with merchandise like Google Chrome that individuals use to go looking the net. Notably, in October 2024, ChatGPT launched its personal AI search browser.
To put together itself for Turley’s testimony, Google has subpoenaed OpenAI for paperwork associated to the case. But the 2 firms at the moment are in a heated dispute over the extent of proof OpenAI ought to present.
In a authorized submitting on January 16, Google criticized OpenAI for producing “stunningly few paperwork.” OpenAI’s legal professionals fired again, noting that Google’s calls for for paperwork from high executives like CEO Sam Altman look like a “Trojan horse meant to harass OpenAI executives.”
OpenAI has agreed to share some paperwork from Turley’s work information about OpenAI’s technique on AI merchandise, its integration of AI into search-related merchandise, and its Microsoft partnership, a letter from OpenAI’s legal professionals reveals.
Google says it wants extra paperwork from extra executives, as relying totally on Turley “would prejudice Google” since Turley is a witness “handpicked” by the U.S. authorities, based on the submitting.
Google additionally needs paperwork from OpenAI that predate the launch of ChatGPT in November 2022, claiming these “could undermine Mr. Turley’s testimony relating to limitations to entry in a manner that post-launch paperwork wouldn’t.” But OpenAI says paperwork that outdated “can not meaningfully symbolize” the present AI panorama.
Both sides seem at an deadlock and OpenAI has requested the court docket reject the total scope of Google’s requested proof.
OpenAI and Google didn’t reply to requests for remark. The DOJ declined to remark.
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