UK Antitrust Watchdog Probes Alphabet's Anthropic Deal
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Britain's Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) has launched an investigation into Alphabet's partnership with artificial intelligence startup Anthropic, raising concerns about potential competition issues, reports Reuters.
This probe comes amidst growing global scrutiny of deals between big tech companies and smaller AI startups, spurred by the emergence of OpenAI's ChatGPT, which sparked an AI boom nearly two years ago.
Anthropic, co-founded by former OpenAI executives Dario and Daniela Amodei, secured a $500 million investment from Alphabet in 2023, with a promise of an additional $1.5 billion investment over time. The startup also relies on Alphabet's Google Cloud services for its operations.
The CMA has been examining Alphabet's relationship with Anthropic since July, seeking feedback on whether the deal could stifle competition in the UK. The regulator has set a deadline of December 19 for its initial decision, at which point it will determine whether to proceed with a more in-depth investigation.
An Anthropic spokesperson emphasized the company's independence and assured the CMA of its full cooperation. "We are an independent company and none of our strategic partnerships or investor relationships diminish the independence of our corporate governance or our freedom to partner with others," the spokesperson stated.
An Alphabet spokesperson reiterated the company's commitment to fostering an open and innovative AI ecosystem. "Anthropic is free to use multiple cloud providers and does, we don't demand exclusive tech rights," the spokesperson added.