CMA opens Google's search choice screen to AI assistants

The UK’s competition regulator wants Google to show Android and Chrome users a search choice screen when they set up a device, re-prompt them every year, and, for the first time, let AI assistants appear on that screen alongside traditional search engines. The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) published the strengthened proposals on 23 September 2026 and is consulting on them until 9 October, with a final decision expected by the end of the year. For brands whose customers find them through Google, the front door to search is about to get more crowded.

What happened

The CMA set out the strengthened proposals under a conduct requirement for Google, using powers from the UK’s digital markets regime after designating Google with Strategic Market Status in general search and search advertising in October 2025. The updated proposals would require Google to present a choice screen at first use of Android devices and Chrome, then re-prompt users annually, and would rewrite the eligibility rules so AI assistants that meet the relevant technical and security criteria can appear on the same screen as search engines. AI assistants such as ChatGPT and Perplexity are the obvious candidates. The CMA added that providers featured on choice screens must fairly attribute publisher content when it is used. Consultation closes on 9 October, and the regulator expects to reach a final decision by the end of 2026.

Why it matters

A choice screen that resets every year turns the search default from a fixed setting into a recurring decision. That alone changes the calculus for anyone who relies on Google as the starting point for discovery, because a share of users will pick something else, and now that “something else” can be an AI assistant rather than another search engine. Putting assistants on the same screen as Bing or DuckDuckGo is a signal that regulators increasingly treat AI answer engines as a mainstream way people find businesses, not a fringe one.

“This is about future-proofing the options available to people in the UK so they can choose the search service they want as these come to market.”

Sarah Cardell, Chief Executive, Competition and Markets Authority

The rules are UK-only, but they matter beyond Britain. They run in parallel with the EU’s Digital Markets Act, and remedies Google builds for one market often shape how it operates in others. The fair-attribution condition also lands in the middle of the wider fight over how AI Overviews and AI Mode use publisher content, so European brands should read this as another marker of where platform accountability is heading.

What this means for multi-location brands

At enterprise scale, discovery is no longer a single funnel that begins and ends on Google Search. If a choice screen seeds ChatGPT or Perplexity as someone’s default, those assistants will answer “near me” and “which branch” questions with whatever location data they can resolve, so visibility now depends on being accurate and machine-readable across every engine and assistant, not just ranking on one. The practical work for a central team is the same discipline that already wins in search: keep location listings consistent across all locations so any engine can trust and cite them, and make sure your presence is legible to AI answers through structured, governed data with Places AI.

Treat AI assistants as a first-class channel rather than an experiment. Build for visibility in AI search results now, and revisit generative engine optimization as a standing practice, because the choice screen is likely to push more of your customers toward assistants that answer in a sentence instead of a page of links.

The bottom line

Regulators are reshaping where search begins, and they are writing AI assistants into the rules as they do it. The brands that come out ahead will be the ones whose location data is accurate and structured enough to be found no matter which door a customer walks through.