CMA seeks feedback about the relationship between Microsoft and OpenAI, and whether it has antitrust implications.
Microsoft, it should be remembered, was firmly rebuked for its conduct by the CMA in October after the UK regulator reversed its initial ban and approved the Activsion Blizzard acquisition after Microsoft made a significant concession.
Now on Friday the CMA announced it is seeking industry views about Microsoft and another organisation.
The Invitation to Comment is the first part of the CMA's information gathering process and comes in advance of any launch of a formal phase 1 investigation.
The CMA said that it has been closely monitoring the impact of partnerships and strategic agreements which could result in a weakening of competition in the development or use of FMs. Microsoft has, or has pledged to invest over $10 billion in the start-up and uses OpenAI technology for most of its AI offerings.
The CMA noted the recent developments in the governance of OpenAI - some of which it said involved Microsoft.
Last month OpenAI's non-profit board of directors had shocked the tech industry, when they unexpectedly fired CEO Sam Altman, who has been the public face of OpenAI since 2019.
Altman's firing also shocked investors including Microsoft, Tiger Global, Thrive Capital and Sequoia Capital - all of which lobbied for Altman to return to OpenAI. The boardroom battle deepened when OpenAI's non-profit board refused to back down on the firing of Altman.
This led Microsoft's CEO Satya Nadella to announce that both Altman and former president Greg Brockman would be joining Redmond to head a new AI research team at Redmond.
As the vast majority of OpenAI's workforce threatened to resign en masse at the Altman ousting, some media reports suggested that Microsoft was offering them jobs as well.
Reuters meanwhile reported that Microsoft owns 49 percent of the for-profit operating company, and that OpenAI has a non-profit parent which owns 2 percent.
Microsoft also now has non-voting 'observer' on the board.
In light of these developments, the CMA said it is now issuing an ITC to determine whether the Microsoft / OpenAI partnership, including recent developments, has resulted in a relevant merger situation and, if so, the potential impact on competition, the regulator stated.
Smith also took a subtle dig at Google's relationship with its Deepmind unit.
Since 2019, we've forged a partnership with OpenAI that has fostered more AI innovation and competition, while preserving independence for both companies.
The only thing that has changed is that Microsoft will now have a non-voting observer on OpenAI's Board, which is very.
This Cyber News was published on www.silicon.co.uk. Publication date: Fri, 08 Dec 2023 15:13:05 +0000