AsianFin -- The U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) is currently investigating Alphabet’s Google to examine whether its agreement with popular chatbot company Character.AI violates antitrust laws.

Antitrust regulators recently notified Google that they are probing whether the company structured its deal with Character.AI in a way that circumvents formal government merger reviews.

Under an agreement reached last year, Character.AI’s founders joined Google, while Google secured a non-exclusive license to use the chatbot company’s AI technology.

A Google spokesperson said in an email statement, “We welcome regulatory inquiries. The addition of Character.AI talent is exciting, but Google does not hold equity in the company, which continues to operate independently.”

Although the deal did not require formal review, the DOJ retains the authority to investigate whether the arrangement amounts to anti-competitive behavior. The investigation is reportedly in its early stages, and no wrongdoing has been alleged against Google so far. It remains possible that the DOJ will ultimately decide not to take enforcement action.