However, the CMA is still investigating other deals involving Big Tech companies, including Amazon's $4 billion investment in Anthropic, a US-based AI company, and Microsoft's hiring of the team behind Inflection AI. The CMA is also looking into Microsoft's close ties with OpenAI. Despite the decision on the Mistral AI case, the CMA continues to scrutinize Big Tech's influence on the AI market and its tactics to avoid regulatory oversight.
Key takeaways:
- The U.K.'s Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) has decided not to investigate Microsoft's investment in French AI startup, Mistral AI, under antitrust laws, stating that the partnership does not qualify for investigation under the merger provisions of the Enterprise Act 2002.
- This decision comes after the CMA launched early-stage probes into Amazon and Microsoft's various AI investments and partnerships, including Microsoft's $16 million investment in Mistral AI.
- Despite the decision, the CMA continues to scrutinize Big Tech's tactics of pursuing 'quasi-mergers' to secure control over new technologies without outright buying startups, and two of its recently announced 'invitations to comment' may lead to formal in-depth probes.
- The CMA has also confirmed that Microsoft has not acquired any 'material influence' on Mistral AI's commercial policy as a result of the partnership, and therefore does not qualify for investigation.