EU Competition Commissioner Margrethe Vestager said on Friday that the EU’s antitrust authorities will be asking for more third-party opinions
Due to exclusivity terms, Microsoft’s alliance with OpenAI may be the subject of an EU antitrust inquiry; Google’s AI agreement with Samsung has also drawn criticism.
On Friday, EU Competition Commissioner Margrethe Vestager declared that antitrust authorities will be obtaining more independent assessments.
These moves underscore the concerns of international authorities regarding Big Tech’s potential to replicate its market domination in other domains by expanding its reach into new technologies.
Regarding their AI collaborations, Vestager mailed surveys to Google, Microsoft, Facebook owned by Meta, TikTok owned by ByteDance, and other significant tech firms in March.
“We have reviewed the responses and are now sending a follow-up request for information on the Microsoft and OpenAI agreement to determine if certain exclusivity clauses might negatively impact competitors,” she said at the event.
The news that EU regulators are assembling evidence that may lead to an examination of the two corporations’ collaboration was first reported by Reuters.
A Microsoft representative said, “We are ready to address any additional questions from the European Commission.”
Vestager made it clear that because of the absence of control, Microsoft’s collaboration with OpenAI will not be subject to EU merger regulations. Microsoft, the nonprofit parent of OpenAI, has put $13 billion into a for-profit company with the goal of acquiring a 49% share.
Vestager also voiced worries about larger tech companies preventing smaller AI developers from reaching consumers and companies.
“We are also requesting information to assess the impact of Google’s agreement with Samsung to pre-install its small model Gemini Nano on select Samsung devices,” she stated.
Google and the South Korean giant inked a multi-year deal in January for Google’s generative artificial intelligence technology to be integrated into Samsung’s Galaxy S24 series smartphones.
Vestager added that she was looking at “acqui-hires,” which are transactions in which a business acquires another largely for its talent. Microsoft’s $650 million acquisition of Inflection in March, which allowed it to use the startup’s models and hire the majority of its employees, served as an example of this.
“We will ensure that these practices do not evade our merger control regulations, particularly when they result in consolidation,” she said.
