The UK competition regulator has rewritten Google’s proposed search choice screen so AI assistants can qualify for a slot. The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) published a revised consultation on 23 September that would require Google to offer UK users up to 12 search providers on Android devices and Chrome.
What changed in the revised proposal
This is the second consultation on the measure. The first draft arrived on 28 January 2026, after the CMA designated Google with strategic market status in general search services on 10 October 2025. Only one of the original four conduct requirements—publisher controls over AI content—has been imposed so far; it takes full effect on 3 December 2026 and runs until 10 October 2030.
The CMA says the market moved between drafts. Google’s 19 May 2026 I/O changes put Gemini 3.5 Flash behind a redesigned search box, and the regulator says more users are adopting generative AI tools for search. That blurred the line between classic search engines and AI assistants.
AI assistants become eligible—conditionally
The revised draft keeps three eligibility criteria. A service must:
- adequately address the full range of general search use cases, including by searching the web;
- offer a functioning general search experience that works technically on each access point;
- be considered a general search service by a significant proportion of its own UK users.
OpenAI argued the original criteria were not forward-looking, while several publisher groups said AI services should not qualify. The CMA largely sided with the AI camp. The regulator deleted a fourth test that would have required search to be a “core and central” part of a provider’s service—a hurdle likely to exclude general-purpose chatbots. Providers do not need their own index; they can use a syndicated index, but AI summaries must attribute web content clearly and route users to the content.
The screen would carry 12 slots. If more than 12 services qualify, Google must show the five most popular eligible providers plus seven drawn at random, in fully random order. Users must scroll the full list before confirming. Each screen must also offer a test-drive of at least one week.
Why this matters for marketers
Defaults are distribution. Whatever sits in the search box captures most queries—and most search ad revenue. A choice screen that includes AI assistants could redirect some query volume away from Google’s owned surfaces, especially in the UK, where the rules would apply to new Android devices, new Chrome installs on Windows, macOS and iOS, and existing Chrome users on desktop and iOS.
But Google still runs the gate. It must run an approval round every six months, with written reasons for rejections, and it controls the screening against the CMA’s criteria. The CMA kept that arrangement despite calls for independent oversight.
What to do about it
Smart performance teams should treat AI search as a discoverability channel now, not a future scenario. Audit whether your brand surfaces in Google AI Mode and competing assistants, because eligibility will reward services that can handle navigational, transactional and informational queries—and cite sources.
Think of the 12-slot screen as retail shelf space: the top five give predictable exposure, while the random seven force providers to be ready for any placement. If your traffic leans heavily on Google defaults, build a monitoring dashboard for UK default-driven sessions and test how your content appears in AI answers.
Source: PPC Land
