The UK has proposed that Google display AI assistants alongside traditional search engines when users are offered a choice of search alternatives, according to a report from The Capitol Forum covering the latest European antitrust agenda.

The proposal marks a notable expansion of the remedy discussion around Google's search dominance: instead of limiting a choice screen or default-switching remedy to rival search engines such as Bing or DuckDuckGo, the UK framework would bring AI assistants into the set of alternatives presented to users. The report frames this as part of the UK's ongoing work following its competition investigation into Google's position in search and search advertising.

What does the proposal change?

Under the reported proposal, Google would need to show certain AI assistants among the search alternatives offered to users, not only conventional search engines. Key elements of the story:

• The UK is the authority pushing the AI-assistant inclusion, as part of its antitrust agenda targeting Google's search dominance.
• The remedy discussion now treats AI assistants as a genuine substitute for general search, reflecting how users increasingly route queries through conversational AI tools.
• No implementation date, screen design, or list of qualifying assistants was specified in the report.

For site owners and search marketers, the significance is structural rather than immediate: if AI assistants become formally recognized alternatives to Google Search in a UK remedy, discovery and click-through dynamics could shift for publishers who already track AI-referral traffic. Nothing in the report indicates a confirmed rollout — this is a proposal, not an implemented measure.

What did the DMA enforcer say?

The same Capitol Forum report carries a second thread: the European Commission's top Digital Markets Act enforcer wants more help from national competition authorities.

The DMA, in force since 2023, designates Google's parent Alphabet among its gatekeepers, and enforcement has so far concentrated at the EU level in Brussels. The reported request signals that the Commission's competition officials believe effective DMA supervision of gatekeepers — including the search-choice and defaulting rules that apply to Google — requires greater capacity and coordination from national authorities across member states.

The report does not specify which national authorities would be involved, what additional powers they would exercise, or on what timeline the Commission expects that support to arrive.

Separating what is confirmed from what is proposed

Two distinct statuses are in play here, and the report keeps them separate:

• Proposed, not implemented: the UK's call for AI assistants to appear among search alternatives on Google. This is a remedy proposal within an ongoing UK process.
• Stated preference, not new rule: the senior DMA enforcer's request for more national-authority involvement. It signals enforcement direction but does not itself change gatekeeper obligations.

Neither item constitutes a confirmed product change on Google's side. Google has not, per the report, agreed to or implemented an AI-assistant choice option, and the DMA's operational division of labor remains as it stands until the Commission formalizes any change.

Why AI assistants are entering antitrust remedies

The UK move reflects a broader shift in how regulators define the search market. Remedies designed around a list of blue-link search engines increasingly look incomplete when a growing share of informational queries flows to conversational assistants. By proposing that AI assistants count as search alternatives, the UK effectively argues that the relevant competitive constraint on Google now includes AI products — an argument that aligns with the Commission's own market-definition thinking under the DMA.

For publishers and SEO professionals, that framing matters even before any remedy lands. It signals that European regulators treat AI assistants as substitutes for search, which supports the case that AI-driven discovery channels deserve the same measurement and optimization attention as traditional organic search.

What to monitor next

Watch for the UK's next procedural step — whether the proposal hardens into a formal remedy decision with a compliance deadline for Google — and for any Commission follow-up specifying which national authorities join DMA enforcement and in what capacity.