In a surprising turn of events during the high-profile U.S. v. Google antitrust trial, OpenAI has expressed interest in acquiring Google Chrome—should the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) force a breakup of the tech giant’s assets. This declaration adds an unexpected twist to one of the biggest legal battles in the tech world, and signals OpenAI’s ambitions to broaden its dominance beyond artificial intelligence into the realm of web browsers and internet infrastructure.
Background: The Google Antitrust Case
To fully understand OpenAI’s bold statement, it’s essential to look at the context of the ongoing trial.
The Department of Justice filed a landmark antitrust lawsuit against Google, accusing the company of illegally maintaining monopolies in online search and search advertising. Judge Amit Mehta ruled in 2023 that Google is a monopolist in online search, a major victory for the DOJ. Now, in 2025, the trial has entered the remedies phase—where potential consequences and structural changes to Google’s business are being debated.
Among the more dramatic remedies proposed by regulators is the breakup of Google’s core services, including the potential separation or sale of Google Chrome, the world’s most widely used web browser.
OpenAI’s Strategic Interest in Chrome
In testimony this week, Nick Turley, OpenAI’s Head of Product, shared that the company would be interested in acquiring Chrome if it becomes available. As first reported by Reuters, this is a significant revelation.
Why would OpenAI, a company primarily focused on AI, want to purchase a browser like Chrome?
Turley’s statement suggests a few strategic reasons:
- Integrating AI at the browser level: With Chrome, OpenAI could tightly integrate its flagship product, ChatGPT, directly into the browsing experience—allowing for a more seamless, intelligent web interface.
- Expanding reach and data access: Chrome’s market dominance means billions of users, providing OpenAI an unmatched opportunity to access usage data and optimize its AI models in real-world settings.
- Controlling a key internet entry point: The browser is the gateway to the web. Owning Chrome would allow OpenAI to influence how users interact with search, media, and online applications—potentially bypassing existing alliances with Microsoft’s Bing.
A Disrupted Alliance? OpenAI, Microsoft, and Bing
Currently, ChatGPT pulls real-time web data using Microsoft’s Bing search engine, an arrangement that has helped improve the AI’s responses to current events and web-related queries. However, Turley’s testimony revealed a lesser-known detail: OpenAI had also reached out to Google last year, seeking a potential partnership to access Google’s search technology.
Although Google did not partner with OpenAI, the outreach is telling. It indicates that OpenAI may not be fully satisfied with its current relationship with Microsoft and Bing. In fact, Turley acknowledged that the company has had “significant quality issues” with one of its providers, referred to in testimony as “Provider No. 1”—widely interpreted as Bing.
This paints a picture of a company looking to diversify, improve, and perhaps gain more autonomy in how it delivers search-based results to its users.
The Chrome Power Play: More Than Just a Browser
While Chrome is “just a browser” on the surface, it is also one of the most powerful digital tools in existence today. According to recent analytics, Chrome controls more than 65% of the global browser market, far outpacing rivals like Safari, Edge, and Firefox.
Ownership of Chrome could provide OpenAI with:
- Massive user base: An already loyal and widespread audience.
- Control over extensions and APIs: Enabling integration of AI-powered tools across the browsing experience.
- Search default options: Potential to set ChatGPT or another AI-enhanced service as the default assistant for searches.
- Advertising potential: New revenue streams through advertising and sponsored content interfaces.
Implications for Google and the Tech Industry
If Google is indeed forced to divest Chrome, it would mark a dramatic shift in the tech landscape. Google has long bundled Chrome with its ecosystem—especially as a gateway to Google Search, Gmail, Docs, and its entire cloud suite.
This would also raise serious concerns about user experience continuity, browser innovation, and data privacy. OpenAI taking over Chrome would represent a convergence of AI and browser technology at scale, something the tech world has not yet witnessed.
Moreover, it may prompt other tech giants to stake their claim. Could Microsoft make a competing offer? Could Apple, Amazon, or even Meta enter the race?
OpenAI’s AI-Browser Vision
OpenAI has already dabbled with browser-style tools. ChatGPT Plus and Pro users can access the internet in real-time via the Browse with Bing feature, and OpenAI has begun integrating web browsing into its flagship tools.
However, owning Chrome would take this to an entirely new level. Imagine an AI-powered browser that:
- Provides intelligent summarization of pages on load
- Offers contextual answers and suggestions as users browse
- Detects misleading information in real time
- Assists with writing, research, coding, or online shopping
This would shift the user experience from passive searching to active assistance—turning the web into a more conversational, contextual, and personalized environment.
Legal and Regulatory Hurdles
While OpenAI’s interest in Chrome is public and serious, there would still be immense legal, financial, and technical challenges involved in such an acquisition.
- Antitrust regulators might block OpenAI’s move if it’s seen as simply shifting monopoly power from one tech giant to another.
- Data handling and privacy policies would need to be overhauled, especially considering OpenAI’s AI models are known for consuming large datasets.
- Cross-border compliance could become an issue, especially with Europe’s Digital Markets Act (DMA) and GDPR in effect.
Moreover, the price tag for Chrome—if it were spun off—would likely be in the tens of billions of dollars, making this one of the most expensive tech deals in recent history.
What’s Next?
The remedies phase of the U.S. v. Google trial is still ongoing. Google has made it clear that it plans to appeal the ruling and may fight any forced divestitures tooth and nail.
Meanwhile, OpenAI’s statement sends a clear message: it’s not content being just a chatbot company. With ambitions spreading from AI to cloud, search, and now browsers, OpenAI is positioning itself as a full-stack tech player.
This bold declaration may also serve a strategic purpose—if nothing else, to put pressure on Microsoft to improve Bing integration or to renegotiate terms. It may also attract other potential bidders or open the door to new partnerships.
Final Thoughts
OpenAI’s interest in Chrome is more than just a newsworthy soundbite—it’s a vision of the future where AI and web browsing are not separate entities, but part of a unified, intelligent digital interface. If regulators follow through on a breakup and if OpenAI manages to acquire Chrome, the tech world could be looking at a new paradigm shift—one where the browser itself becomes not just a tool for accessing the web, but a living assistant powered by artificial intelligence.
Whether or not this deal ever materializes, one thing is clear: the lines between AI, search, and user experience are blurring fast. And in this race, OpenAI is making sure it doesn’t just watch from the sidelines—it wants to play, and it wants to win.
