CMA wants to add AI assistants to Android and Chrome search choice screens

The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA), the UK competition regulator, strengthened its proposals on 23 September 2026 to open Google’s search choice screens to AI assistants. The proposal covers Android and Chrome in the United Kingdom and is subject to a new consultation.

The CMA says AI assistants are currently absent from Google’s choice screens. Offering them when users set their default search service could make them easier to select. The text revises the eligibility criteria and arrangements for annual presentation compared with the January 2026 proposals.

The CMA designated Google as having strategic market status in general search and related advertising on 10 October 2025. This designation allows it to consider targeted obligations to improve competition.

An initial screen, followed by an annual prompt

The consultation document provides for a mandatory initial screen for the Chrome browsers covered by the proposal, displayed during the first scheduled major update after the rule takes effect. New Chrome installations made after that first major update would display the screen on first use.

On Android, the initial arrangement would apply to new devices covered by the proposal. The mandatory choice screen would be displayed on first use or during setup.

An annual prompt, unobtrusive and dismissible, would then allow users to reconsider their chosen default service. On Android, it would be limited to the new devices covered by the proposal. An exemption is being considered, in particular, for users who have voluntarily chosen their service within the previous six months.

Eligibility criteria and access to sources

Candidate services would have to offer general search that includes the Web and meet technical compatibility requirements. They would also have to meet minimum security requirements, which Google would specify.

A significant proportion of the service’s UK users would also have to recognise it as a search service. The eligibility of assistants such as ChatGPT and Perplexity, mentioned by Reuters, would therefore depend on all these criteria.

Services appearing on the screens would have to fairly attribute publishers’ content and provide access to the sources used, including in AI summaries. Readers could thus trace information back to the original content to check what a generated response draws from it.

The consultation on the revised proposals is open until 9 October 2026. The CMA expects a final decision by the end of 2026.