UK Starts Scrutinizing AI Partnership By Microsoft And Amazon

Britain’s competition watchdog said on Wednesday it was seeking comments on the AI partnerships between Microsoft and Mistral AI, as well as between Amazon and Anthropic. The Competition and Markets Authority also said it wanted to hear the views of third parties on Microsoft’s hiring of former employees of Inflection AI and related arrangements.

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.

“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.

The regulator said it had not formed any conclusions on whether the deals fell within UK merger rules or raised competition concerns. The regulator said it had not formed any conclusions on whether the deals fell within UK merger rules or raised competition concerns.

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. This forms the first part of its information gathering process and comes before the start of a formal investigation.