Google Is Already a Latent AI Monopoly
The evidence shows Google is already a latent U.S. AI monopoly in wait.
Google is also best positioned to win the AI race to:
Achieve Artificial General Intelligence (human level intelligence) broadly; and
Command the pole position in the Big-AI race to achieve Superintelligence AI (as smart or smarter than humans.)
Why it Matters
What could create an AI monopoly?
NOT common competitive commodity AI tech, e.g., chips, data centers & energy.
What could, is more, better-quality information/data/metadata via Google’s proven, unmatched, universal, info-opoly/info-opsony, & longstanding AI-first vision/mission.
How is Google already a legitimately latent AI monopoly & monopsony?
For 27 yrs, Google has collected/organized exponentially more info, and better-quality information/data/metadata than any other entity by far.
Only Google repeatedly makes a copy of the Internet’s digital info multiple times every day 24-7/365 and has for the last 27 years. It also has stored/analyzed it in its own market-leading Bigtable Database since 2005.
Practically, Google has huge 10-18 yr time-to-market AI advantages, over all potential AI competitors, in collecting, organizing, qualifying, info, and in omni-productizing, servicing, and monetizing the world’s digital information.
Google has long led Big-tech with 261 acquisitions of other companies’ information innovations to create Google’s own ~ 200 info-products/services.
Google’s AI monopoly aspirations in Google’s words:
In 2000, Google Founder Larry Page predicted: “AI would be the ultimate version of Google”
In 2009, Google Chairman Schmidt asserted: "Our model is just better… Based on that, we should have 100% share.”
In 2009, Google Chairman Schmidt indicated "Scale is the key. We just have so much scale in terms of the data we can bring to bear."
In 2010, Google Chairman Schmidt said: “We are in the information business.”
In 2013, Google Chairman Schmidt explained "Platforms are where the aggregated value occurs… The way the industry creates wealth is creating platforms.”
In 2025, Google DeepMind AI CEO Demis Hassabis, publicly boasts: “Google will dominate AI search and Assistants.” “For the next two or three years, both AI Overviews/AI Mode are going to be growing & necessary. We plan to dominate both.”
No entity can match Google’s omni-Internet/digital info scale/scope/reach; along with its unbeatable offering of >150 information products, and its market-leading, broad digital information advertising and monetization capabilities.
Google’s way ahead of the pack! Over half of Internet traffic involves Google in some way and Google Analytics tracks most of the top Internet websites. Google also controls most of the top billion plus universal web platforms. Only Google offers multiple core services to most users in their native language.
Google is Big Brother Inc. in universally surveilling online. Google is the only company with the mission to organize the world’s public & private information, so Google can develop more ways to surveil/monitor more people, more regularly, more times, more places, & more intimately than any entity ever.
Google’s omni-digital-info hegemony and data dominance are unique.
Google is the only platform in the world where users can go for all information; publishers can go for all advertisers; and advertisers/sellers can go for all users.
As such, Google is the only entity that can record/track most all: user online traffic and demand for content; advertiser supply of advertisements, and their exact target demographics; and what exact content is viewed by whom, when, where and how much.
Only Google has systematically assembled all the key building block capabilities necessary to become the omni-dominant digital info platform/AI monopoly, e.g.,
An omniscient mission, omni-directional ambition; omnivorous info collection; Internet omnipresence; Internet-scalable omni-structure; omnifarious products, services & info types; Internet behavior omniscience; and an omnivorous ecosystem share.
Information is as essential to artificial intelligence as water is to humanity.
Info matters most to AI: Its Internet education, ideation, innovation, integration, power, influence, quality, interactions, communication, collaboration & competition.
Information is integral to the AI functionality of everything, everywhere.
The economy: finance, markets, commerce, trade, supply chain, competition.
Production: manufacturing, construction, agriculture, energy, transportation.
Society: communication, collaboration, organization, education, culture…
Individuality: record-keeping; decision making, action taking, personal data…
Intelligence: info, reason, educated, rational, logical, knowledgeable, creative.
Technology: information/data/metadata, AI, Internet, info-tech computation.
Science: computer science, medicine, physics, chemistry, biology, weather.
Religion: preaching, scripture, discipleship, mission, morality, ethics.
Government: Constitution, rules, due process, free speech/press/assembly, policy, politics, elections, limits, civics, culture, defense, national security, public safety, privacy, property-rights, responsibility, liability, culpability.
Info is The Real King of Artificial Intelligence not technology in the AI Age!
AI Intelligence comes from information, intelligent quality inputs.
AI technology (chips data-centers energy) are unintelligent quantity inputs.
Good, structured training information like Google has, is much more and better than any other entity’s training information.
Good training information is the crucial quality input necessary to generate true and more intelligent artificial intelligence.
It’s not quantity scale buying of more and faster computing chips, building more unpredictable ‘brute-compute’, data centers, unpredictable trial & error ‘incessant-iterations’, and unpredictable ‘excessive-energy’ use/wastage. That generates the most ROI risk by far.
Currently, conventional wisdom and the market are distracted and missing the most consequential U.S. information technology change driving the future of AI:
From Internet driven/communications-centric, change (1998-2022)
To AI-information driven/computations-centric change (2023- forward)
AI must be information-first not technology-first to truly succeed. Good quality, quantity information is the essential training input for quality artificial intelligence. All IT programmers know inputs drive outputs e.g., ‘GIGO’ garbage in garbage out.
Sans quality information inputs, no amount of current incessant trial & error iterations, brute compute, or excessive energy wastage can create real useful AI.
What many are missing and or neglecting, Google has and continues master this transformational IT change from technology essential to information essential.
DOJ also gets that Google is already a latent AI monopoly.
Importantly, the DOJ understands Google remedies must ensure that Google cannot extend its unlawful search/text-ad monopolization to an unlawful monopolization of the AI industry in the future.
DOJ’s latest Post-Trial findings to the Judge who ruled Google was a search/text-ad monopoly, made clear to the Judge that search and Gen AI need to both be addressed in the search remedy.
§ “Plaintiffs’ remedies ensure that (1) GenAI firms, as potential entrants and nascent threats to search, can access the data and syndication remedies, and (2) Google GenAI products that are search access points are covered by the distribution remedies.”
§ “GenAI capabilities are now part of the barriers to entering search.”
§ “And search data has become a critical input developing GenAI models and products.”
§ “Plaintiffs have shown the relationship between GenAI and search requires that both be addressed in the remedy.”
Don’t expect a lax Google antitrust remedy, it won’t happen because it would disastrously cement Google’s current search monopoly by default, which in turn would practically ensure Google to become America’s AI monopoly by antitrust default.
Only Google has unique control of exponentially more Information than any AI entity, and all U.S. AI entities combined by far!
The court remedy will likely require Google to syndicate/license its search information & search text-ad data to its competitors at no or marginal cost for ~10 years to “to remove barriers of entry, pry open the monopolized markets to competition, deprive Google of the fruits of its violations by providing competitors access to scale dependent data inputs for both search & ads.”
Finally, The evidence shows Google is already a latent AI monopoly.
Forewarned is forearmed.
Scott Cleland