New Delhi, July 17 -- BRUSSELS - For Android users in the European Union, the default AI assistant on their phone may be about to change. The European Commission on Wednesday handed Google a pair of binding obligations under the Digital Markets Act, requiring the company to share its search data with competitors and open Android devices to rival artificial intelligence services, changes that Brussels says will finally give European consumers real alternatives to Google's own products.

The orders, announced by Henna Virkkunen, the EU's technology chief, as reported by Euronews, set firm deadlines that Google has until now managed to avoid. Starting in January 2027, Google must provide competing search engines access to query and click dat...