Google was ruled to have a search monopoly by a U.S. court in August, and while Google is appealing, the Justice Department is considering potential penalties like breaking off Chrome.
As part of this process, the DOJ is looking to call Dmitry Shevelenko, the chief business officer of Perplexity, an AI search provider valued at $9 billion, as a witness according to a recent court filing cited by Reuters.
Generative AI tools like Perplexity and OpenAI’s ChatGPT Search have emerged as potential replacements for traditional internet search engines, offering direct answers to complex queries. The DOJ is interested in Shevelenko’s insights on generative AI’s relationship with search access points, distribution, barriers to entry, expansion, and data sharing.
While the exact reason for the DOJ’s interest in Perplexity is not disclosed, it could strengthen the argument that Google dominates the search market and hinders competition.
Perplexity finds itself in a challenging position, as both Google and the DOJ seek information that could benefit their respective cases. Google has subpoenaed Perplexity for company documents as part of its defense against the antitrust allegations.
Despite agreeing to provide some documents, Perplexity has not yet provided anything to Google, citing the burden of collecting a large number of documents. Perplexity has requested further discussions with Google to address concerns about providing all licensing agreements.
