The European Commission has ordered Google to open Android to third-party artificial intelligence assistants. The measure seeks more competition and more options, but it puts our privacy at serious risk, since these tools will be able to access functions reserved for Gemini and it will leave it up to users to try to determine what they access, when, and for what.
Deeper access to Android
The European Union’s order will mean that the new assistants, which we’ll install as apps on Android, can be activated through voice commands, act within our apps, complete tasks in the background, and access what’s on the screen and data from all sensors. Google has already warned about these risks, and now insists that each extra permission unnecessarily increases the attack surface, especially when we’re talking about messages, files, locations, and activity between apps.
Europe says safeguards must be built in, but each company applies different criteria, something we already saw when Meta sought access to Apple’s ecosystem. Competition has clear benefits, but integrating any service this deeply into the system demands very rigorous technical controls and even then, maximum protection can’t be guaranteed.
The comparison with Apple, in fact, is inevitable. The Cupertino company has chosen to delay the features while it defends an architecture centered on local processing and Private Cloud Compute. The possibility of having to give any AI app access to the entire system, as is now happening to Google, has been enough to delay the rollout of the new Siri AI in Europe. Meanwhile, Apple says it is in talks with the EU that preserves both security and compatibility.
More freedom, but with enormous responsibility
Opening Android may give us more capable and personalized assistants, but according to Google, and also Apple, it will do so at the expense of our privacy. Competition adds value, but only when privacy remains the priority.
