Microsoft And Amazon Face Scrutiny From UK Competition Watchdog Over Recent AI Deals

LONDON — British competition officials announced on Wednesday that they will closely examine recent artificial intelligence agreements made by Microsoft and Amazon. This investigation is prompted by fears that these partnerships may impede competition within the AI business.

The Competition and Markets Authority is currently investigating Microsoft’s collaboration with Mistral AI in France and the company’s recruitment of crucial personnel from Inflection AI, another startup. The agency has also announced a separate investigation into Amazon’s $4 billion purchase of Anthropic, a San Francisco-based company.

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Microsoft And Amazon Face Scrutiny From UK Competition Watchdog Over Recent AI Deals

Due to the increasing interest in generative artificial intelligence (AI) among the public and businesses, major technology corporations have been investing substantial amounts of money into startups. However, these investments have also caught the attention of antitrust authorities.

The regulatory body in the United Kingdom announced that it is inviting feedback from “interested third parties” to determine whether to conduct a comprehensive inquiry into potential antitrust violations.

“We will evaluate, in a fair and unbiased manner, whether each of these three agreements comply with the merger regulations in the United Kingdom and, if they do, whether they have any influence on competition within the country,” stated Joel Bamford, the executive director of mergers at the regulatory body.

Microsoft has committed to supplying the necessary information to the watchdog to facilitate its investigations.

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Microsoft And Amazon Face Scrutiny From UK Competition Watchdog Over Recent AI Deals

“The company stated that it believes that common business practices like hiring talented individuals or making a partial investment in an AI startup encourage competition and should not be considered equivalent to a merger.”

Microsoft has recruited Mustafa Suleyman, one of the co-founders of Google’s DeepMind AI research lab, to lead its consumer artificial intelligence division. Additionally, Microsoft hired the chief scientist and several top engineers and researchers from Inflection, Suleyman’s AI startup.

Earlier this year, Microsoft partnered with Mistral, which has quickly gained popularity in France’s AI industry since its establishment last year. Microsoft had previously collaborated with OpenAI, the creator of ChatGPT, which is also under investigation by the CMA.

Mistral expressed its unwavering dedication to collaborating with the CMA during this procedure to guarantee the preservation of its long-term autonomy and market access.

Meanwhile, Amazon has invested billions to acquire a minority share in Anthropic. The two businesses are working together to create foundation models, the basis for the generative AI systems that have gained worldwide recognition.

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Microsoft And Amazon Face Scrutiny From UK Competition Watchdog Over Recent AI Deals

Amazon stated that it is unprecedented for the CMA to review a collaboration of this nature. “In contrast to partnerships between other AI startups and large technology companies, our collaboration with Anthropic involves a restricted investment, does not grant Amazon a position as a board director or observer, and allows Anthropic to continue running its models on various cloud providers.”

The CMA has announced an increase in its examination of the foundation models industry following the release of a report that emphasized the potential for dominant corporations to enhance their positions through partnerships with significant AI players.

SOURCE – (AP)