On this page · 10 sections
- What the CMA proposed on 23 September 2026
- Can an AI assistant qualify? The three tests
- Proposed, decided or unknown: the status on 7 November 2026
- Who argued what
- When could AI assistants appear? A 2027 timeline scenario
- What UK-facing marketers should prepare
- What UK publishers should prepare
- Notes for India, the EU and the US
- How eCorpIT can help
- References
Summary. On 23 September 2026 the UK Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) published a revised user choice conduct requirement for Google that would let AI assistants appear on Google's search choice screens if they pass three eligibility tests. The consultation closed on 9 October 2026 and the CMA expects to decide by the end of 2026. As of 7 November 2026 nothing is final: the case page, last updated on 5 November, lists no decision, and Google told the CMA on 13 October that the revised criteria would be unlawful. The draft would require a non-skippable screen when a new UK Android device is set up and once on Chrome across desktop and iOS, a skippable reminder at least yearly, up to 12 providers in random order, a test-drive of at least a week and a six-monthly approval process run by Google. Listed services would have to attribute web content clearly. The CMA names ChatGPT and Perplexity as services people now use, but neither is listed. The rule would apply within six months of imposition, so on our reading the first screens would arrive in the second half of 2027 at the earliest. UK-facing marketers and publishers should baseline AI-assistant referrals now and plan around choice windows that Google is expected to announce three months ahead.
About this article. For UK-facing marketers, SEO leads and publishers, including Indian and US firms with UK audiences. On 7 November 2026 we read the CMA's consultation document of 23 September 2026 (the draft requirement and interpretative notes), its press release, the case page as updated on 5 November 2026, the consultation page with responses published on 26 and 30 October 2026, and the Thinks user research, then checked market figures against Statcounter, Google and Perplexity pages. This is general information, not legal advice, and the CMA can change any element before it decides. No vendor paid for inclusion. Researched with AI assistance and reviewed by our editorial team.
What the CMA proposed on 23 September 2026
The CMA designated Google with strategic market status (SMS) in general search and search advertising on 10 October 2025, under the Digital Markets, Competition and Consumers Act 2024. It said then that more than 90% of UK searches happen on Google, and it left the Gemini assistant out of scope while keeping AI Overviews and AI Mode in. Designation lets the CMA impose conduct requirements. It has imposed three: publisher controls on 3 June 2026, then fair ranking and data portability on 17 June 2026.
User choice was part of the January 2026 package, but the CMA did not impose it with the others. On 23 September it consulted again, citing Google's own changes to Search and evidence that more people use generative AI tools, including assistants, to search. Chief executive Sarah Cardell said the CMA was responding to people using AI assistants as their search service even though those assistants are missing from Google's choice screens.
The table summarises the draft and what changed from January, using the consultation document.
| Element | Draft requirement, 23 September 2026 | Change from January 2026 |
|---|---|---|
| Devices covered | Android devices for UK distribution where the maker pre-installs Google Search, the search widget or Chrome with Google as default | Definitions clarified; Circle to Search still not covered |
| Browsers covered | Chrome on any desktop, mobile or tablet system, such as Windows, macOS and iOS, where Google set Google Search as default | Desktop and iOS coverage kept |
| First screen | Non-skippable at set-up of a new Android device; non-skippable on Chrome with the first major update after the rule is in force, and on any later new install | Clarified that existing Chrome users see it once |
| Repeat | A skippable, visually limited notification at least once a year, tied to a major update; on Android only for new devices | January proposed a full annual redisplay |
| Repeat exemption | Google may skip it if the user deliberately chose or changed default in the previous six months | Widened to any deliberate change |
| List | Up to 12 providers in fully random order, with a forced scroll; above 12, the five most popular plus seven at random, with the rest viewable | Fully random order replaces the stratified order |
| Test-drive | Try a provider for a short, defined period, not shorter than a week, with a confirmation screen | New Android devices and all Chrome only |
| Information screen | Shown just before the choice screen, explaining search services and providers' key features | Kept |
| Eligibility | Three criteria, applied by Google every six months | Fourth criterion deleted |
| Re-trigger from settings | Dropped | January proposed it |
| Start | Within six months of imposition; the approval process one month after | Approval process brought forward |
Two details are easy to miss. A chosen provider becomes the default on every covered access point, which on Android means the default search app, the home-screen widget and the Chrome address bar. And Google must give each listed provider an API that reports whether it is the user's default, plus a way to send the user straight to the default setting.
Can an AI assistant qualify? The three tests
The draft sets three criteria. A service must handle the full range of general search use cases on a wide range of subjects, including by searching the web; it must work properly on the covered access points; and a significant share of its own UK users must regard it as a general search service.
The interpretative notes give each test detail. The CMA counts four use cases: navigational queries, transactional queries, simple informational queries such as news or real-time facts, and complex questions without a definitive answer. A provider must give up-to-date answers by searching the web, though it may use a syndicated index, and its error rate must not be significant. A significant share means a meaningful, non-trivial proportion, not a majority, and the evidence can come from surveys or from how people actually use the service.
The CMA deleted a fourth criterion, that general search be a core part of how the service is run and marketed. It said the test was not forward-looking, could exclude a service that handles many search queries alongside even more non-search ones, and overlapped with the first test. On our reading, that deletion is what opens the door to general-purpose assistants.
The reasoning is explicit. Google Search now runs AI Overviews and AI Mode, so the CMA says the boundary between AI services and other search services is blurring, and that assistants that meet the criteria could in theory be listed. It also rejected the argument that leaving Gemini out of the designation means assistants should stay off the screen: that decision rested on Google's products, and the CMA had already called assistants an emerging threat to Google search.
Here is how the tests read for an assistant. The right-hand column is our reading, not a CMA finding.
| Test | What the CMA says | Open question for AI assistants |
|---|---|---|
| Use cases | Navigational, transactional, simple and complex informational; must search the web; error rate not significant | Does it return a usable link for navigational queries? The CMA notes that adding the word link may change the answer |
| Attribution | Generative AI answers must credit web content clearly and accurately and give users a clear route to it; providers choose how | How Google will test clear attribution |
| Functioning | Works on the widget, address bar and default app without crashes; meets minimum security standards that Google sets; can scale | A competitor sets the security bar |
| Users' view | A non-trivial share of the service's UK users treat it as search | What evidence Google will accept |
| Plan limits | The short description must flag charges or a cap on free queries | How free-tier limits are shown |
Google decides each application and must give the CMA detailed reasons for any rejection.
Proposed, decided or unknown: the status on 7 November 2026
The case page was last updated on 5 November 2026, with a note on the members of the deciding subcommittee, and lists no final user choice decision. The table separates what is in force from what is still proposed, drawing on the CMA press releases, case page and consultation.
| Item | Status | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Google has SMS in general search and search advertising | Decided, 10 October 2025 | CMA press release |
| Gemini assistant outside the designation | Decided, kept under review | CMA press release |
| AI Overviews and AI Mode inside the designation | Decided | CMA press release |
| Publisher controls requirement | Imposed 3 June 2026 | CMA press release |
| Fair ranking and data portability requirements | Imposed 17 June 2026 | CMA press release |
| Choice screens on Android set-up and Chrome | Proposed; consultation closed 9 October 2026 | Consultation document |
| AI assistants eligible if they pass three tests | Proposed | Consultation document |
| Attribution by listed providers | Proposed, in the interpretative notes | Consultation document |
| Annual skippable reminder and one-week test-drive | Proposed | Consultation document |
| Final decision | Expected by end of 2026 | CMA press release |
| Rollout date | Not set | Case page |
| Which assistants qualify | Unknown; Google decides every six months | Consultation document |
Google already shows an Android search choice screen in the UK voluntarily, according to the consultation. The draft would make a wider version compulsory and extend it to Chrome on desktop and iOS.
Who argued what
In January, OpenAI said the criteria were not forward-looking and that six months to implement was too long; Which? and OpenAI both found the criteria too open to interpretation. Four respondents, the Guardian Media Group, the Computer and Communications Industry Association, the Professional Publishers Association and the News Media Association, said leaving Gemini out of the designation meant AI services should stay off the screen. Google accepted the January criteria but opposed the annual redisplay and the test-drive, offering a UK Choice Package with a central Android switch, a longer list and a stratified 5 plus 7 order. The CMA rejected it because it would prompt users only once. Research by Thinks with 80 users found that people who noticed AI services on a test screen engaged more with the whole list.
The CMA published responses to the September consultation on 26 and 30 October 2026. Google's response, dated 13 October, argues that the revised criteria reach beyond the designated activity, lack a proper proportionality assessment and would be unlawful if adopted. It also says assistants send publishers less traffic per query than search engines. OpenAI's response, dated 14 October, welcomes the technology-neutral criteria and asks for more: choice extended to access points such as Circle to Search and Lens, tighter limits on Google's discretion, including over security rules, and the reminder and test-drive on existing Android phones. Perplexity does not appear among the named respondents.
When could AI assistants appear? A 2027 timeline scenario
No date is set. The scenario below applies the draft's own clocks to an assumed decision on 31 December 2026, the end of the CMA's expected window. The dates are illustrative, not a forecast.
| Step | Rule in the draft | Illustrative date if imposed 31 December 2026 |
|---|---|---|
| Requirement imposed | CMA final decision | 31 December 2026 |
| Approval process in force | One month after imposition | 31 January 2027 |
| Notice of application window | Two weeks before the window opens | Window opens around mid-February 2027 |
| Google's decisions on applicants | Within two months of the window opening | By mid-April 2027 |
| Rest of the requirement in force | Within six months of imposition | By 30 June 2027 |
| Notice to approved providers | At least three months before the first rollout and each annual reminder | Before any rollout date |
| First Chrome screens | With the first major Chrome update after the rule is in force | Second half of 2027 |
| First Android screens | On new devices distributed after the rule is in force | Second half of 2027 |
| First annual reminder | At least once a year after the first screen | 2028 |
This could slip. The CMA may decide in 2027 or change the draft, Google has said parts of it need complex changes to Android and Chrome, and Google's view that the criteria would be unlawful raises, on our reading, the risk of a challenge. The CMA's own cost model conservatively assumes a one-year build before benefits start. A decision in March 2027 would move every step back about three months.
What UK-facing marketers should prepare
Google will stay the default for most UK users, and the screen is a slow channel. The CMA estimates 5 to 10 million non-skippable screens a year on Android, based on the Android screens shown in 2024; an initial 15 to 35 million on Chrome for desktop and iOS, then 5 to 15 million a year; and 65 to 135 million skippable reminders over five years. The figures are ranges because the CMA redacted the exact numbers.
Current traffic shows how small the starting base is. In Statcounter's UK data for October 2026, search engines produced 96.3% of referrals across search, social and AI chatbots, social 3.67% and chatbots 0.03%, and Google held 90.59% of search engine referrals. Within the chatbot slice, ChatGPT had 44.43%, Google Gemini 31.14%, Microsoft Copilot 10.57%, Perplexity 9.67% and Claude 4.19%, down from about 80% for ChatGPT in September, so treat any single month with care. Assistant use is still growing: Sensor Tower counted 3.8 billion generative AI app downloads in 2025, double the year before. Google is growing too. It said in May 2026 that AI Mode had passed one billion monthly users, and in October that its year-on-year query growth was the highest in five years.
- Baseline AI-assistant referrals for UK traffic now. In GA4, filter to the United Kingdom and isolate sessions from chatgpt.com, perplexity.ai, gemini.google.com, copilot.microsoft.com and claude.ai, with landing pages and conversions.
- Map your queries to the CMA's four use cases. Tag top UK keywords as navigational, transactional or informational, so you can see which spend depends on the Chrome address bar and the Android widget.
- Run a fixed UK prompt set each month. Ask the main assistants the 30 to 50 questions your buyers ask and record whether you are named and linked. Our GEO playbook for ChatGPT, Perplexity and AI Overviews covers how each engine picks sources.
- Plan around choice windows. The CMA expects Google to warn approved providers in advance so they can plan marketing. Expect search and AI brands to buy UK media around those dates.
- Check where paid reach would go. A user who picks a non-Google default sends address-bar and widget queries to that provider, so note which providers sell UK ad placements.
- Keep a decision log of the CMA's final text, Google's application notice and the approved list, so later traffic shifts can be tied to dates.
A sensitivity test helps size the risk. The CMA's benchmark from past studies is about 1% of users switching after a choice screen, and it expects less from a skippable reminder. Suppose 30% of your UK Google organic sessions come through covered access points. At 1% switching, 30% × 1% = 0.3% of your UK Google organic sessions move in the first year; at a hypothetical 5%, 30% × 5% = 1.5%. The real figure is lower at first, because on Android only new phones see the screen. Swap in your own access-point mix. Our scorecard of Gartner's search volume prediction against 2026 data checks how far assistants have shifted search so far.
What UK publishers should prepare
The attribution clause is the publisher angle. Interpretative note 31 says listed providers' generative AI answers must credit web content clearly and accurately and give users a clear way to reach it. It is an eligibility condition, not a licensing or payment rule, and providers need not copy Google's approach.
- Log citations from assistants. Record when an assistant uses your content and whether it links to you. Google may reassess an existing provider if it has concerns, and the CMA's case team takes correspondence at searchsms@cma.gov.uk. Dated evidence makes a complaint useful.
- Decide crawler access deliberately. Perplexity says PerplexityBot surfaces and links sites in its search results and is not used to train foundation models, while its Perplexity-User fetcher acts on user requests and generally ignores robots.txt. Blocking a search crawler lowers your chance of being the credited source.
- Keep the Google controls separate. The choice screen decides which service answers. Controls over Google's own AI features sit in the publisher requirement: see our guide to the CMA AI Overviews metrics and opt-out, and our piece on the CMA fair ranking rule for ranking notices.
- Note what the CMA declined. A group of independent publishers asked for user controls over whether AI Overviews appear. The CMA said the evidence was not strong enough, but will keep it under review.
Notes for India, the EU and the US
The draft covers Android devices meant for UK distribution and Chrome where Google set Google Search as the UK default. Indian and US companies are affected only through UK audiences, so filter analytics to the United Kingdom first. India already has a search choice screen: after the Competition Commission of India's October 2022 Android decision, Google added one at set-up of new Android phones and tablets shipped into India with Google Search pre-installed, listing up to 12 services in random order. It appears only at Android device set-up, not on Chrome for desktop. In the EEA, Google has shown search choice screens on Android and on Chrome outside Android under the Digital Markets Act since March 2024; our article on the Google DMA fine and EU search results covers the EU side. In the US, the remedies the Justice Department won in September 2025 centre on exclusive contracts, data access and syndication.
How eCorpIT can help
eCorpIT is a Gurugram-based technology organisation, founded in 2021, assessed at CMMI Level 5 and MSME certified, with senior-led engineering teams working across AWS, Microsoft and Google platforms. Our performance marketing services team can set up UK-filtered AI-referral baselines, a monthly assistant prompt panel and a decision log for the CMA's milestones. Talk to us at /contact-us/.
Last updated: 7 November 2026.
