The UK’s competition watchdog announced on Wednesday its intention to gather feedback regarding AI partnerships involving Microsoft and Mistral AI, as well as Amazon and Anthropic.
Additionally, the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) expressed interest in hearing third-party perspectives on Microsoft’s recruitment of former Inflection AI employees and associated agreements.
Microsoft recently appointed Mustafa Suleyman, co-founder of DeepMind, to lead a newly established consumer AI unit and absorbed several Inflection AI staff.
The CMA clarified that it has not yet reached any conclusions regarding whether these agreements fall under UK merger regulations or raise competition concerns.
Microsoft responded, asserting confidence in their practices such as talent acquisition or partial investment in AI startups, emphasizing they are distinct from mergers. They pledged cooperation with the CMA’s inquiries.
Amazon, too, expressed surprise at the CMA’s review, highlighting distinctions in their collaboration with Anthropic compared to other AI startups, including limited investment and absence of Amazon’s influence over Anthropic’s operations.
The CMA’s scrutiny extends beyond these recent partnerships, encompassing Microsoft’s Open AI collaboration, with feedback solicited since December.
The CMA’s interest in these partnerships stems from their identification of “an interconnected web” of over 90 similar collaborations and investments involving these companies, as outlined in a recent AI Foundation Models report.
Earlier, the US Federal Trade Commission had mandated OpenAI, Microsoft, Alphabet, Amazon, and Anthropic to furnish information on recent investments and partnerships with generative AI firms and cloud service providers.
The CMA’s call for feedback concludes on May 9, marking the initial phase of its information-gathering process preceding formal investigation.