IANS | 25 Apr, 2024
The UK's Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) on Wednesday
launched a preliminary probe into partnerships between tech giants over
artificial intelligence (AI), like Microsoft and Mistral AI, and Amazon
and Anthropic.
The anti-trust regulator has asked interested
third parties to give their views on whether these AI partnerships
(including Microsoft’s hiring of former employees and related
arrangements with Inflection AI) fall within UK merger rules and the
impact that these arrangements could have on competition in the country.
"We
will assess, objectively and impartially, whether each of these 3 deals
fall within UK merger rules and, if they do, whether they have any
impact on competition in the UK," said Joel Bamford, Executive Director
of Mergers at the CMA.
Competition authorities around the world are actively looking into AI.
"While
we remain open-minded, and haven’t drawn any conclusions, our aim is to
better understand the complex partnerships and arrangements at play,"
Bamford added.
The anti-trust regulator is inviting views by May 9.
The
CMA said it is also considering feedback received earlier this year on
Microsoft’s partnership with OpenAI and is currently waiting for
information it has requested from the firms.
It has not yet opened a formal Phase 1 review of the Microsoft-OpenAI deal.
The
authority said it remains vigilant against the possibility that
incumbent technology firms could use partnerships and investments to
shield themselves from competition.