(Boursier.com) — The CMA, British antitrust and financial regulator, indicated today that it would examine the possibility of launching an investigation into the multibillion partnership of Microsoft with the designer of ChatGPT, OpenAI. It would be a question of whether the merger resulted in a “takeover”, the UK Competition and Markets Authority said. Microsoft owns 49% of OpenAI, according to sources familiar with the matter cited by Reuters. OpenAI has a non-profit parent company that owns 2%, according to the same sources. This is the second time this year that the CMA has looked into this matter. She had already wondered if the deal between Microsoft and OpenAI had not resulted in the creation of a merger situation. “There have recently been a number of developments in the governance of OpenAI, some of which involve Microsoft,” notes this time the CMA. In light of these developments, the CMA 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, what the potential impact would be on the competition…
The speed at which the use of AI is growing is unprecedented, while advances in powerful core models, such as that underpinning ChatGPT, mean this is “a pivotal moment in the development of this technology”, according to the CMA. The move comes after developments last month, which saw Microsoft take a non-voting position on the OpenAI board, after investing billions of dollars in it.
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