The FTC will also investigate if the deals involved "rights to board seats or other oversight over each other." Microsoft, the world's largest investor in OpenAI, is already under scrutiny in the EU for its dealings with OpenAI. Meanwhile, Amazon and Google have invested heavily in Anthropic. The inquiry comes amid increasing government scrutiny of AI practices and potential antitrust violations.
Key takeaways:
- The FTC has launched an inquiry into the AI deals made by Google, Amazon, and Microsoft with AI companies like OpenAI and Anthropic, to determine if such deals breach antitrust policies.
- The FTC's inquiry will investigate the effects of these companies' investments from a competitive standpoint and could lead to an investigation by federal antitrust regulators if laws appear to be broken.
- Microsoft has become the world's largest investor in OpenAI with over $13 billion invested since 2019, holding 49% of OpenAI's stocks, just shy of what could be deemed a breach in antitrust policies.
- Amazon and Google have invested $4 billion and $2 billion into Anthropic, respectively, and the FTC's inquiry will also seek to learn if the deals involved rights to board seats or other oversight over each other.