Brussels tells Google to open Android's mic, camera and screen to rival AI assistants

Key points

• The European Commission on Thursday ordered Google to give rival AI assistants the same access to Android phones that its own Gemini assistant enjoys.
• Competitors must be allowed to use the camera, microphone, on-screen content, a wake word that works with the screen off, and background control of other apps.
• Google has to deliver the changes in Android 18, the next major version of its phone software, with a final deadline of 1 August 2027.
• The order applies across the European Union and covers assistants from any competing developer, not a chosen shortlist.

The European Commission has told Google to stop keeping the best parts of Android for its own AI assistant.

In an order issued Thursday, first reported by The Hacker News, Brussels said rival assistants must get the same deep access to Android phones that Google's own Gemini already has. That means the camera. The microphone. Whatever is showing on the screen. A wake word that works even when the display is off. And the ability to drive other apps in the background by pretending to tap buttons and type text, the same trick Gemini uses when it books a table or fills a form for you.

Google has to ship the changes in Android 18, the next major version of its phone operating system, and everything must be in place by 1 August 2027.

What does this actually change on my phone?

If you own an Android phone in Europe, you will eventually be able to pick a non-Google assistant and have it do the things only Gemini can do today.

Right now, if you install a rival assistant from a company like OpenAI, Anthropic or Perplexity, it runs with one hand tied behind its back. It cannot always listen for a wake word when your screen is dark. It cannot easily see what app you are looking at. It cannot reach into your calendar app and add an entry the way Gemini can. Google's own assistant has none of those limits.

The Commission's view is simple: that is an unfair advantage, and Android is big enough that the advantage tilts the entire AI assistant market.

Why is Europe pushing this now?

The order sits under the Digital Markets Act, the EU law that treats a handful of very large tech firms as "gatekeepers" and forces them to let competitors plug into their platforms on fair terms.

Google was designated a gatekeeper for Android in 2023. Regulators have spent the time since then picking through exactly which doors are locked to outsiders. Voice assistants are the latest door. Brussels argues that as AI assistants become the main way people search, shop and book things on a phone, whoever controls the assistant controls a lot of what happens next.

Google has said in the past that opening these interfaces raises safety and privacy questions, because an assistant with microphone and screen access can hoover up a lot of personal data. The Commission's answer is that Gemini already has that access, so the question is not whether to allow it, but whether to allow it only for Google.

What should ordinary users do?

Nothing today. The rules do not bite until Android 18, and the outside deadline is nearly two years away.

When the change does land, treat a new assistant the way you would treat any powerful app. Check what permissions it asks for. Be wary of any assistant that wants microphone access but comes from a developer you have never heard of. An assistant that can see your screen and drive your apps is, by design, a very capable piece of software. That is useful when it is honest, and dangerous when it is not.

For businesses that manage fleets of Android devices, the practical work starts now: mobile device management policies written around "Gemini is the assistant" will need rewriting before staff start installing alternatives with the same reach.