Subj : CMA launches multiple investigations into Microsoft and Amazon co
To   : All
From : TechnologyDaily
Date : Thu Apr 25 2024 14:30:05

CMA launches multiple investigations into Microsoft and Amazon concerning AI 
startup investments

Date:
Thu, 25 Apr 2024 13:25:27 +0000

Description:
Selective investments by Microsoft and Amazon into AI startups are under the 
lens of the CMA.

FULL STORY
======================================================================

Several investigations have been launched into partnership deals made by 
Microsoft and Amazon with AI startups, and how this might affect future work 
between them 

The UKs Competition and Markets Authority (CMA), which is responsible for 
maintaining fair competition in UK markets, has launched an additional three 
investigations into the tech giants. 

Microsofts dealings with startups Mistral AI and Inflection AI, alongside 
Amazon's dealings with Anthropic are now open to comments on whether they 
fall within UK merger rules and the impact that these arrangements could have 
on competition in the UK, the CMA says. Uncompetitive investments 

Both Amazon and Microsoft have been subject to CMA investigations relating to 
their dominance of the cloud market in 2022 , with Microsoft also being 
accused of having unfair licensing terms and anticompetitive practices in the 
European cloud market. 

The CMA further warned earlier this month that cloud giants are selectively 
investing in startups and restricting access for other companies to use 
compute and data to develop foundation models. 

Now, however, Microsofts funnelling of 12.9m into Mistral AI, some dealings 
with Inflection AI and the hiring of Inflection AI ex-employees, and Amazons 
3.2bn Anthropic investments are being investigated to assess, whether each of 
these three deals fall within UK merger rules and, if they do, whether they 
have any impact on competition in the UK, Joel Bamford, executive director of 
mergers at the CMA said. 

Bamford went on to say that foundation models could fundamentally impact many 
critical sectors of UK industry such as energy, transport, finance and 
healthcare. 

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 in the UK, as well as our wider economy where 
technology has a huge role to play in growth and productivity, Bamford 
concluded. 

Via CityAM More from TechRadar Pro These are the best AI tools around right 
now Apple is reportedly developing its own AI servers  could it be gearing up 
to take on Nvidia and AMD? Take a look at some of the best AI writers



======================================================================
Link to news story:
https://www.techradar.com/pro/cma-launches-multiple-investigations-into-micros
oft-and-amazon-concerning-ai-startup-investments


--- Mystic BBS v1.12 A47 (Linux/64)
 * Origin: tqwNet Technology News (1337:1/100)

.