The UK's Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) has initiated a formal first-phase investigation into the partnership between Google's parent company, Alphabet, and AI startup Anthropic. This development comes nearly two years after the AI landscape was significantly impacted by the release of OpenAI’s chatbot, ChatGPT, provoking global regulatory interest in collaborations between major tech firms and smaller AI startups.
Anthropic, founded by former OpenAI executives Dario and Daniela Amodei, announced last year that it secured a $500 million investment from Alphabet, with a further $1.5 billion promised over time. Since July, the CMA has been evaluating the effects of this partnership on competition in the UK market. They aim to conclude their first-phase investigation by December 19 before deciding whether a more in-depth second-phase inquiry is necessary.
An Alphabet spokesperson emphasized the company's commitment to fostering an open and innovative AI ecosystem, highlighting that Anthropic has the freedom to utilize multiple cloud providers, without exclusive technology rights being enforced.
The CMA leads global regulatory efforts to prevent market distortion through significant tech investments in AI startups. Regulatory bodies like the U.S. Federal Trade Commission and the European Union are also examining similar collaborations in the AI sector.
Previously, the CMA approved Microsoft’s investment in Inflection AI and Amazon’s investment in Anthropic. In March, Microsoft agreed to pay $650 million for AI software licensing from Inflection AI and brought on board its co-founders and much of the workforce. Amazon, on its part, invested a total of $4 billion in Anthropic, marking its largest investment in a single company in its history.
