The investigation is focused on Microsoft, Google and Amazon’s multibillion-dollar investments into OpenAI and Anthropic to assess their potential impact on competition.
The US Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has launched multiple inquiries to ensure competition isn’t being impacted by Big Tech in the growing generative AI sector.
The FTC said it has ordered five companies to provide more information on their recent investments and partnerships involving generative AI companies and major cloud service providers. The organisation said the companies will have 45 days from the date they receive the order to respond.
The Commission said it aims to build a better understanding of the relationships between the five Big Tech firms and AI providers to assess the impact on the competitive landscape. The companies being targeted by the FTC probe are Alphabet, Amazon, Anthropic, Microsoft and OpenAI.
“History shows that new technologies can create new markets and healthy competition,” said FTC chair Lina M Khan. “As companies race to develop and monetize AI, we must guard against tactics that foreclose this opportunity.
“Our study will shed light on whether investments and partnerships pursued by dominant companies risk distorting innovation and undermining fair competition.”
The probe is focusing on three separate multibillion-dollar investments, including Microsoft’s investments in OpenAI. The tech giant has been the main partner with OpenAI in recent years and has surged in market value over the past year, rivalling Apple as the most valuable company in the world.
The FTC probe is also looking into Amazon and Google’s separate investments into Anthropic, an AI start-up founded by former OpenAI employees last year. This company had the backing of Google when released its own generative AI chatbot – Claude – as an alternative to OpenAI’s popular ChatGPT.
But Anthropic also received a $4bn investment in Amazon last year and agreed to have the tech giant become its primary cloud provider.
The FTC said it is requesting more information regarding these partnerships and will analyse their competitive impact. The Commission said it will look at informaiton related to market share, competition, competitors, markets, potential for sales growth or expansion into certain geographic locations or markets.
10 things you need to know direct to your inbox every weekday. Sign up for the Daily Brief, Silicon Republic’s digest of essential sci-tech news.
