publive-image

The UK regulator has set the deadline as December 19 for its Phase 1 decision

The UK antitrust watchdog has launched a probe into Google parent Alphabet's partnership with AI startup Anthropic. 

The Competition and Markets Authority said it would initiate a formal investigation into the merger. This marks the most recent indication that authorities are paying more attention to the surge of investment in AI startup companies.

Anthropic Secured US$500 Million Investment From Alphabet

Last year, Anthropic said that it had received an investment of US$500 million from Alphabet, which promised to invest another US$1.5 billion over time. Following the investment, Google also signed a major cloud deal with Anthropic.

Since July, Britain's Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) has been scrutinising Alphabet's relationship with Anthropic. 

It started scrutinising when it began seeking views on whether the deal would weaken competition in the UK.

UK Regulator Set December 19 As Deadline for Phase 1 Decision

The regulator has set the deadline as December 19 for its Phase 1 decision. This will determine whether to continue the investigation or not.

The CMA ensures that the big tech investment into the AI industry does not dominate the market and gives chances to other companies as well. 

The US Federal Trade Commission and the European Union are also investigating various partnerships.

Microsoft Corp.’s investment into its OpenAI pact is also potentially facing a UK  investigation. Amazon.com Inc’s US$4 billion investment into Anthropic was cleared in September. 

The CMA found that Anthropic’s local revenue fell short of the required thresholds or did not represent a significant portion of the market to justify taking action. So, it opened and closed probes into Microsoft’s Mistral and Inflection deals. 

Almost two years after Microsoft-backed OpenAI saw a boom in AI with the release of ChatGPT, regulators started getting concerned about deals signed between big tech companies and small startups.

Established in 2021, Anthropic PBC is a US-based AI public-benefit startup. 

It specialises in research and develops AI to "study their safety properties at the technological frontier" and use this research to deploy safe, reliable models for the public. 

It has developed LLMs such as Claude as a competitor to OpenAI's ChatGPT and Google's Gemini.