The UK's Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) has decided whether a close partnership and employment practices involving Microsoft, Amazon and three AI startups fall within the scope of the Merger Rules, and the implications that the arrangement could have. We have begun a preliminary investigation to see if there is. Competition in the UK market.
The announcement comes amid growing scrutiny of Big Tech's approach to M&A in the world of AI, with critics arguing that so-called “quasi-mergers” have emerged as a trend of the times as a way to avoid regulatory oversight. are doing.
At the same time, governance centered on the so-called “basic model” (or “fundamental model”) has also become a regulatory issue in Europe and elsewhere. Fundamental models are essentially the underlying infrastructure on which other AI systems can be built, serving as large-scale models that can be used for various tasks.
Joel Bamford, CMA's executive director of mergers, said: “To assess whether these various alliances amount to mergers and whether they have the potential to impact competition in the UK's burgeoning AI industry, He said he was simply soliciting comments from interested parties.
“The foundational model has the potential to fundamentally impact the way we all live and work, including products and services across many sectors in the UK, including healthcare, energy, transport and finance.” Ford said in a statement. “Open, fair and effective competition in fundamental model markets is therefore essential if UK people, businesses and the wider economy, where technology plays a major role in growth, are to reap the full benefits of this transformation. ” and productivity. ”
The UK has previously raised concerns about how building partnerships involving “major companies” in the underlying model sector could help “incumbent technology companies” (i.e. Big Tech) protect themselves from competition. Ta. Direct acquisitions will undoubtedly come under regulatory scrutiny, but partnerships, investments, and “acquisitions” could be, or are being discussed, ways to circumvent this.
Microsoft's investment and close partnership with ChatGPT maker OpenAI came under intense scrutiny from the CMA late last year, with the regulator launching a formal “invitation to comment” for stakeholders in the AI and business sectors. The European Commission (EC) followed suit and conducted a similar investigation in January.
A lot has happened since then. Microsoft hired the core team of Inflection AI, a U.S.-based OpenAI rival it had previously invested in, and earlier this month Microsoft announced a new AI hub led by former Inflection and DeepMind scientist Jordan Hoffman. Launched in London.
Microsoft also recently invested in Mistral AI, a French AI startup (and double unicorn) working on a foundational model that it believes is comparable to OpenAI.
And then there's Amazon, which recently completed a $4 billion investment in Anthropic. Anthropic is another US-based AI company working on large-scale language models.
An Amazon spokesperson said the CMA's move to consider this type of partnership is “unprecedented,” especially given that the partnership with Anthropic does not give Amazon a seat on the company's board or even an observer role. , said that it is different from Microsoft, which ultimately procured non-regular companies. – Last year, I voted for an “observer” role on OpenAI's board of directors. The spokesperson also said it does not limit Anthropic's ability to run models across different clouds.
“By investing in Anthropic, which just released the industry-leading new Claude 3 model, we are helping to make the generative AI space more competitive than it has been in years,” a spokesperson said in a statement to TechCrunch. said in a statement. “And our customers are very excited about the opportunities this collaboration provides. We are confident that the facts speak for themselves and that CMA agrees to quickly resolve this matter.” I hope.”