The British antitrust authorities are solicit opinions on the implications of partnerships between tech giants Microsoft And Amazon and small developers of generative artificial intelligence (AI) models amid growing concerns about competition and innovation in the sector.
This investigation could reshape the landscape of the AI industry. Some experts have warned that a tough antitrust ruling could not only change how big companies interact with emerging AI companies, but could also dampen enthusiasm for new partnerships, possibly slowing the pace of innovation.
“A direct ruling that prohibits exclusive partnerships or creates substantial barriers to creating direct partnerships between generative AI companies and large technology companies will likely make it more difficult to obtain capital and therefore slow their growth. » Ryan M. Yonkcore research faculty member of the think tank American Institute for Economic Researchtold PYMNTS.
“A decision that would limit these partnerships would certainly create a greater reluctance to attempt such partnerships and would likely result in a reassessment of the ability of new startups to get off the ground without them,” he added.
Growing deals for small AI companies
The United Kingdom Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) is seeking input from stakeholders by May 9 to determine whether the business transactions in question should be classified as mergers. This request for comment is a first step in the information gathering phase, which precedes the start of a formal phase 1 investigation by UK regulators. However, according to the CMA, this request does not trigger formal review.
“The Core Models have the potential to have a fundamental impact on the way we all live and work, including products and services across many UK sectors – healthcare, energy, transport, finance and much more. » Joel Bamfordexecutive director of mergers at the CMA, said in a Press release.
“Open, fair and effective competition in Foundation Model markets is therefore essential to ensure that UK individuals and businesses, as well as our wider economy, where technology has a huge role to play in growth and growth, take full advantage of the benefits of this transformation. productivity,” he continued.
Microsoft invested 15 million euros ($16 million) in Mistral AIan emerging French AI company founded by former employees of Meta And GoogleIt is deep mind. As part of the deal, Mistral, recently valued at €2 billion ($2.14 billion), will make its advanced extended language models (LLMs) available on Microsoft’s Azure cloud platform. Azure will be the second platform to host Mistral’s LLM technology, after OpenAI.
Meanwhile, Amazon invested $4 billion in the American AI company Anthropic, known for its chatbot LLM Claude. Amazon said it would retain a minority stake in Anthropic and would not serve on the board of directors.
More review
In recent years, concerns about market dominance by large technology companies, primarily those heavily invested in AI, have led to increased scrutiny and antitrust rulings.
In 2021, the European Commission examined whether Google’s use of the data for advertising purposes constituted an abuse of its dominant market position. Likewise, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) filed an antitrust complaint against Facebook in the United States, alleging that the company’s acquisitions of Instagram and WhatsApp were intended to eliminate potential competitors.
Competition decisions are based on the belief that large companies can unfairly dominate the market, which requires protecting new competitors, Yonk said.
“While this sentiment appears positive to the general public, it replaces questions about consumer welfare with questions about the welfare of businesses (especially that of competing businesses), with the perverse result of helping competitors while leaving consumers worse off,” he said. “I would expect that a decision making partnerships more difficult or banning them would further encourage those seeking to strengthen competition regulation and would do little to improve the situation for consumers. »
