The Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung recently published a thought-provoking article on AI browsers and their growing competition with conventional web browsers. The piece speaks of an emerging “new browser war.” Below are two brief reflections on this development from the perspective of the Digital Markets Act (DMA).
1. Gatekeeper Designation of AI Browsers under the DMA
If AI browsers, as discussed in the FAZ article, evolve into digital infrastructure with significant intermediation power, they could potentially be designated as gatekeepers under the DMA. According to Article 3(9) DMA, the European Commission may designate a provider as a gatekeeper for a specific core platform service.
What qualifies as a core platform service is defined in Article 2(2) DMA. Currently, web browsers are already explicitly listed. However, depending on their functionality, AI browsers could also fall under the categories of online search engines or even virtual assistants.
Once formally designated, such AI-based services would be subject to the obligations under Articles 5 to 7 DMA. These include interoperability, non-discrimination, and data access duties. In short: the regulatory framework is already in place to deal with this next generation of browsing tools.
2. Access Claims by AI Browsers under Article 6(11) DMA
Even before formal designation, an AI browser that competes with existing gatekeeper-operated browsers may, under certain conditions, invoke Article 6(11) DMA. This provision obliges gatekeepers to provide FRAND-based and anonymised access to query, click, and view data to third parties operating online search engines.
Importantly, this access right does not extend to services that do not qualify as online search engines. Until the AI browser itself is designated as a gatekeeper, it remains eligible to claim access rights in order to foster contestability. This reflects one of the core objectives of the DMA: to prevent entrenched dominance and to ensure market contestability remains viable.
In this sense, the outcome of the “new browser war” may have already been preemptively shaped by the DMA.
Functional Classification of AI Browsers
Both observations hinge on whether AI browsers can be classified as online search engines under the DMA. This term is defined by reference to Article 2(5) of the P2B Regulation, which describes it as:
“[…]a digital service that allows users to input queries in order to perform searches of, in principle, all websites, or all websites in a particular language, on the basis of a query on any subject in the form of a keyword, voice request, phrase or other input, and returns results in any format in which information related to the requested content can be found.”
This distinguishes a search engine from a mere database: it must actively and continuously search the open web. AI browsers that merely rely on static datasets obtained through a one-time crawl would not qualify.
To be considered an online search engine, an AI browser must go one step further: it must offer real-time, index-based search capabilities across the web. Only then could it trigger the access rights set out in Article 6(11) DMA.
