The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) announced Tuesday that it is opening an investigation into major technology companies' multibillion-dollar investments in generative artificial intelligence (AI) companies.
The FTC said it is seeking information about partnerships between Microsoft and OpenAI, Amazon and Anthropic, and Google and Anthropic. The agency said all five companies had been ordered to obtain further information about their investments and partnerships.
“History shows that new technologies can create new markets and healthy competition,” FTC Chair Lina Khan said in a statement. “As companies race to develop and monetize AI, we must be wary of tactics that take away this opportunity,” she said.
“Our research will reveal whether the investments and partnerships pursued by leading companies risk distorting innovation and undermining fair competition,” she added.
The close partnership between Microsoft and OpenAI has received increased attention following the return of OpenAI CEO Sam Altman after his high-profile ouster late last year.
After the AI company's board fired Altman in November, Microsoft offered him a position leading a new AI research team. But a few days later, after he returned as head of OpenAI, the company announced that his Microsoft would no longer have voting rights on its board.
Britain's Competition and Markets Authority announced in early December that it would launch an initial review of the partnership between the two companies and whether it “gave into relevant merger circumstances”.
Earlier this month, the European Union similarly announced it was considering whether Microsoft's investment in OpenAI would be subject to the European Union's merger rules.
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