E.U. Orders Google to Open Android Mic, Camera and Screen to Rival AI Assistants

The EU has ordered Google to open Android's microphone, camera, and screen access to competing AI assistants, ending Google's ability to keep those sensor-level permissions exclusive to its own Gemini stack. The order is regulatory, not voluntary — a mandate, not a partnership announcement.

This is the same playbook Brussels ran on Apple with iMessage interoperability, USB-C, sideloading, and browser choice screens: identify a gatekeeper's structural advantage, define it as anticompetitive, and force the plumbing open regardless of the security tradeoffs the platform owner says it needs. The pattern the EU keeps proving is that antitrust law now moves faster than product security review — and that "open by regulatory order" doesn't come with the same vetting a company would normally apply before letting third parties touch always-on hardware sensors. Every time this happens, the access gets wider before the guardrails catch up.

The SAL read: if your company issues Android devices, assume that within the next product cycle, apps you didn't choose will be requesting mic and camera permissions your MDM policy wasn't written for — audit your app allowlists and sensor-permission policies now, not after the first rogue "AI assistant" ships on the Play Store with