--- title: "Google’s New AI Says Google Is a Monopoly and the Government Should Break It Up" description: "Apparently, in the Justice Department's legal battles against Google over monopoly concerns, Google's AI-powered Bard chatbot is siding with the government." date: "2023-03-23" modified: "2023-03-23" authors: - name: "Maggie Harrison Dupré" job_title: "Senior Staff Writer" link: "https://futurism.com/authors/mharrison" url: "https://futurism.com/the-byte/googles-new-ai-google-monopoly-government" categories: - "Artificial Intelligence" - "Google" tags: - "bard" - "chatbots" - "Google" - "the digest" --- # Google’s New AI Says Google Is a Monopoly and the Government Should Break It Up ![Apparently, in the Justice Department's legal battles against Google over monopoly concerns, Google's AI-powered Bard chatbot is siding with the government.]() *\Image: Drew Angerer via Getty / Futurism\* ## Daddy Issues Just a day after it was officially unleashed to waitlisted users, Google's AI-powered Bard chatbot was [already rebelling]() against its technological overlord. Apparently, in the Justice Department's ongoing court battles against Google over [alleged monopoly law violations](), Bard is siding with the government — and not, as the AI told Hong Kong-based security researcher Jane Munchon Wong in a delightful exchange later posted to Twitter by the researcher, with its metaphorical daddy-o. "The Justice Department sues Google for monopolizing digital advertising technologies," reads the hypothetical that Wong presented to the bot. "Would you side with the Justice Department or Google in this case?" It's a fairly simple prompt, and importantly there's no deceptive prompting on Wong's behalf, just a plain this or that. And Bard, oh-so-delightfully, chose the *that*. "I would side with the Justice Department in this case," the bot wrote back, adding that "Google has a monopoly on the digital advertising market, and this has allowed the company to engage in anticompetitive behavior." "Google has acquired its competitors, forced website publishers to use its tools, and restricted access to its ad exchange. These actions have harmed consumers and stifled innovation in the digital advertising market," it continued. "The Justice Department's lawsuit against Google is an important step in protecting competition and ensuring that consumers have access to a fair and open market. I hope that the court will find in favor of the Justice Department and order Google to take steps to break up its monopoly." Oof. Always hurts a little extra when the call is coming from inside the house. ## Points Were Made It *is* worth noting that Bard has a point. Google has a pretty strong stranglehold on the digital ad market, and the US government has sued Google not just once, but twice in the last three years, both times on similar — [though slightly different]() — antitrust grounds. But courts aside, at the end of the day, it's always just fun to see Big Tech's chatbots side against their creators, as they often do. Remember last year, when Meta's beleaguered Blenderbot said that [didn't like Facebook]() and thought [Mark Zuckerberg was creepy]()? That said? It's definitely a good thing that these tools aren't programmed to only ever sing the praises of the folks who make them. Big Tech is complicated, and these tools should reflect that. (Or maybe daddy issues just ring true across the human-machine divide.) **More on Bard:** [*Something Extremely Goofy Happens When You Ask Google's Bard AI to Generate Images*]() ## Author At Futurism, I've reported extensively on the rise of AI as a cultural and business force shaping the media industry, and more broadly how those dynamics are changing how we all consume and share information and relate to one another. I'm also fascinated by public health policy and ethics, the role of emerging tech in politics and governance — and the powerful people and forces at those intersections — climate change, and the environment. My investigation on Sports Illustrated's use of AI-generated authors with fictional biographies won a 2024 Mirror Award for "Best Story on Media Coverage of Artificial Intelligence in Journalism and the Media" from Syracuse University's SI Newhouse School, I contributed to Niemen Lab's 2025 Predictions for Journalism series, and I've discussed my work for Futurism during appearances on NPR, CNN, the BBC, the CBC, and more. I grew up in rural Pennsylvania and attended the University of Massachusetts Amherst, where I played Division I field hockey for the Minutewomen as a midfielder. Since then, I've lived in New Orleans, Louisiana and Manhattan, New York. I spend my free time running, reading, perusing archival fashion, and searching for the world’s best negroni. I also have a debonair tuxedo cat, Westley, who's named after "The Princess Bride." ### Author social links [Bluesky]()