Talks between Apple Inc. and Alphabet Inc.‘s Google about a potential artificial intelligence deal could open the door for the US Justice Department in its tussle with other agencies over tackling antitrust issues in the AI space.

Apple is in discussions to build Google’s Gemini AI engine into the iPhone, Bloomberg News reported. The DOJ’s Antitrust Division filed a landmark suit against Apple last week and is awaiting a decision in its search monopolization case against Google—litigation that could be affected by shifting competitive dynamics between the tech giants, antitrust professors and lawyers say.

These cases could position the agency for an initial leap into AI regulation, on the heels of the Federal Trade Commission in January launching an inquiry into big tech’s investments in AI startups. Under the Biden administration, the DOJ and FTC have split oversight over the tech industry. But which agency should take the lead on AI is less clear-cut, leaving uncertainty for companies, lawyers, and regulators.

AI “doesn’t easily fall within one agency’s jurisdiction as opposed to the other,” said John Lopatka, a law professor at Penn State focused on antitrust. “So I think what you would hear from DOJ is, look, this is a deal with Google, and we’re the ones that are litigating Google—so we should be the ones investigating a Google Gemini deal.”

Apple and Google have yet to confirm or release details about an AI deal, which would be Google’s highest-profile partnership for its Gemini technology, a potent generative AI chatbot that Apple could use to power Siri and other iPhone apps. The lack of details makes it difficult to determine at this stage what specific antitrust concerns the partnership could raise for regulators, antitrust professors say.

While a licensing deal of this nature wouldn’t automatically trigger antitrust scrutiny, Lopatka said he would be “stunned” if regulators didn’t at least launch a probe.

“It seems to me that Apple’s potential deal with Google AI is an alternative to Apple’s independent market entry, and that’s the danger that should be explored here,” said Lee Hepner, legal counsel at the American Economic Liberties Project, an antimonopoly group.

See also: Microsoft Deal, Apple-Google Talks Show Need for AI Help

A DOJ spokesperson declined to comment on how the agency might respond to an AI deal.

Spotlight on Google Search

The Gemini talks fit into the DOJ’s existing interests and expertise, putting the agency in a position to argue it’s better equipped than the FTC to tackle this latest AI development, said William Kovacic, a former FTC chair and current George Washington University law professor.

“From the point of view of both the agencies, as soon as you have a major information systems player making an investment in a new emerging technology—especially one with possibilities for dramatic change—they’re immediately going to take an interest in that,” Kovacic said.

An AI deal between Apple and Google could have direct implications for the DOJ’s lawsuit accusing Google of monopolizing online search, which also focuses on how the companies’ close partnerships affect competition.

An exclusive search deal has “allowed those parties to act as one company,” Hepner said in reference to the antitrust concerns raised in the Google search trial last fall.

If Google is found liable for unlawfully monopolizing internet search, an AI deal with Apple could complicate remedies to break up that monopoly, said Megan Gray, a former FTC attorney and the founder of GrayMatters Law & Policy. Gray said the DOJ would have to take the AI deal into consideration when crafting a remedy.

“This news just increases the spotlight on the Google search remedy,” Gray said. “It would be dumb for DOJ to not take this opportunity to say, it’s part of our remedy part of the case, we have a clear hook—so this is our move into the AI turf.”

Before news of the companies’ AI talks broke, Lopatka said he would have expected the Justice Department to propose a remedy in the Google search case aimed at suppressing the growth of Google and allowing Apple to emerge as a search competitor. But an AI agreement could force the DOJ to rethink its approach to breaking up a search monopoly, Lopatka added.

An AI deal between the tech behemoths could block competition in the search market, which would raise red flags for federal regulators in the Google search case, Lopatka said.

“The government would want to be cognizant of any relationship when proposing remedies,” Lopatka said.

Apple Antitrust Suit

The DOJ’s sweeping antitrust lawsuit against Apple could present further justification for the DOJ to probe Apple and Google’s AI plans, given the agency’s recent experience investigating the iPhone maker.

The agency’s complaint against Apple, filed last week in the US District Court for the District of New Jersey, targets a range of allegedly illegal practices the company has employed to maintain a smartphone monopoly.

Kovacic, of George Washington University, said agency officials are likely looking at these various Big Tech lawsuits in a comprehensive way, rather than in isolation.

“They can say, we are on top of it, and this fits exactly into the field of interest we have with respect to Apple’s behavior generally,” Kovacic said. “DOJ would have a strong basis for saying, ‘This one’s ours.’”