Information on deals relating to artificial intelligence (AI) between the likes of Amazon.com Inc and Microsoft Corp is being sought by Britain’s Competition and Markets Authority.
This is in a bid to determine whether such partnerships fall under UK merger rules, the CMA said on Wednesday.
“Today we’re inviting comments into the partnerships between Microsoft and Mistral AI, Amazon and Anthropic, and Microsoft’s hiring of former employees and related arrangements with Inflection AI,” CMA merger executive Joel Bamford said.
“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.”
The CMA previously warned it had “real concerns” around the development and adoption of AI in UK markets, given just a handful of companies work on such foundation models.
“Foundation models have the potential to fundamentally impact the way we all live and work, including products and services across so many UK sectors,” Bamford added.
“So open, fair, and effective competition in Foundation Model markets is critical to making sure the full benefits of this transformation are realised by people and businesses.”