The UK competition watchdog has ended its investigation into the partnership between Microsoft and OpenAI. The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) was looking into whether Microsoft’s relationship with the maker of ChatGPT changed after the turmoil that saw its boss Sam Altman fired and then rehired. The CMA has concluded that, despite Microsoft investing billions of dollars into OpenAI and having exclusive uses of some of its AI products, the partnership remains the same, so is not subject to review under the UK’s merger rules. Digital rights campaigners, Foxglove, said it showed the CMA had been “defanged.” The CMA opened the probe in December 2023, after Microsoft had put pressure on OpenAI to re-employ Mr Altman, days after he had been sacked. The CMA has concluded that Microsoft “exerts a high level of material influence” over OpenAI’s commercial policy without fully controlling it. The CMA’s findings on jurisdiction should not be read as the partnership being given a clean bill of health on potential competition concerns; but the UK merger control regime must operate within the remit set down by Parliament.
Source link
