Competition watchdog launches inquiry into Amazon’s partnership with Anthropic
8 August 2024, 16:44
The Competition and Markets Authority has previously raised concerns about the relationship between big tech firms and AI start-ups.
The UK’s competition watchdog has confirmed it is launching a merger inquiry into Amazon’s partnership with AI firm Anthropic.
The tech giant has invested four billion US dollars (£3.1 billion) into the US AI firm.
On Thursday, the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) said it has “sufficient information” to begin an initial investigation into the partnership, in order to establish whether a more in-depth review is needed.
The decision is the latest in a string of decisions from the regulator around examining the close partnerships between big technology firms and emerging AI companies.
In recent weeks, the CMA has announced investigations into Microsoft over its hiring of a number of staff from start-up Inflection AI to its new dedicated AI team, while Google’s parent firm, Alphabet, is also being examined over a partnership with Anthropic.
In April, the CMA published a report highlighting concerns it had over potential risks to open, fair and effective competition in the AI market.
It specifically highlighted what it called an “interconnected web” of more than 90 partnerships and strategic investments from the biggest names in tech – including Alphabet, Amazon, Apple and Microsoft – and emerging AI firms, a set-up it warned could be used to consolidate power and resources within the sector among a few companies.
Amazon, as well as Alphabet, has invested heavily in Anthropic, while Microsoft is the largest investor in ChatGPT maker OpenAI.
OpenAI has also formed a partnership with Apple to embed ChatGPT into future generations of the iPhone as part of Apple’s plans to bring more generative AI tools to its products.
Concerns have been raised that these big investments and partnership deals could see large companies exert some control over the direction of AI firms without attracting the regulatory scrutiny that a full acquisition might.
In a statement, an Amazon spokesperson said: “We’re disappointed that the UK’s Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) has not ended its probe yet.
“Amazon’s collaboration with Anthropic does not raise any competition concerns or meet the CMA’s own threshold for review.
“The early days of generative AI have largely seen one successful option available for customers. Anthropic has worked hard to become an emerging viable alternative.
“But, building models is expensive, and companies like Anthropic need access to a substantial amount of capital to train these models. By investing in Anthropic, Amazon, along with other companies, is helping Anthropic expand choice and competition in this important technology.
“Amazon holds no board seat nor decision-making power at Anthropic, and Anthropic is free to work with any other provider (and indeed has multiple partners).
“Amazon will also continue to make these Anthropic models available to customers via Amazon Bedrock, a service that makes it easier for developers and companies to leverage large language models (LLMs) and build generative AI applications.”
An Anthropic spokesperson said: “We are an independent company. Our strategic partnerships and investor relationships do not diminish our corporate governance independence or our freedom to partner with others.
“Amazon does not have a seat on Anthropic’s board, nor does it have any board observer rights. We intend to cooperate with the CMA and provide them with a comprehensive understanding of Amazon’s investment and our commercial collaboration.”
