The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) of the United States has announced that it will investigate the investments and partnerships of major artificial intelligence (AI) companies, including Amazon, Alphabet, Microsoft, Anthropic, and OpenAI.
The FTC announced on January 25 that it had issued orders requiring the five companies to provide information regarding their agreements with significant cloud service providers and generative AI companies, as well as the strategic reasoning behind those agreements.
Such corporations as Microsoft, OpenAI, Amazon, Anthropic, and Google were among those that received mandates from the FTC regarding investments worth billions of dollars.
FTC Chair Lina Khan stated at a tech summit convened by the agency that the issued orders constitute a “market inquiry into the partnerships and investments being formed between major cloud service providers and AI developers.”
To obtain access to the technologies and inputs necessary for AI development, businesses are forming partnerships with AI developers and investing directly in them, among other strategies, in order to develop and implement AI.
By exercising its authority to conduct a 6(b) study, the regulator can investigate AI companies and issue civil investigative demands independently of its law enforcement division.
This implies that organizations can be required to comply with the agency’s requests for specific reports and answers to inquiries regarding their activities.
The FTC is interested in specifics regarding how these partnerships influence competition for AI inputs and resources, as well as the competitive dynamics surrounding generative AI-critical products and services.
Concerning investigations, information requests, or other inquiries concerning these subjects, the commission is similarly interested in gaining access to any data shared with other governmental entities, including foreign governments.
Additionally, the antitrust authority of the United Kingdom is contemplating initiating an investigation into the substantial partnership between OpenAI and Microsoft. In response, Microsoft clarified that it serves as a non-voting observer on the board of the ChatGPT manufacturer.
Additionally, the European Commission has expressed its intention to examine whether Microsoft’s investment in OpenAI could be subject to scrutiny under the EU Merger Regulation.
