UK Competition Watchdog Scrutinizes Google's Partnership with AI Startup Anthropic

Why UK is not happy with 'Google's AI partnership' - Times of India

UK's competition watchdog, the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) may be planning to investigate Google parent Alphabet's partnership with AI startup Anthropic. The regulator is reportedly concerned about the deal's potential impact on competition. According to a report by the news agency Reuters, Microsoft's partnerships with OpenAI, Inflection AI, and Mistral AI as well as Alphabet's ties to other smaller companies such as Anthropic and Cohere, are also under the microscope. The CMA is seeking public input on the deal until August 13 and is yet to decide whether to launch an official investigation at the end of this process. The probe comes amid growing global scrutiny of tech giants' investments in AI startups. Last week, US, UK, and EU antitrust regulators joined forces and pledged to cooperate in safeguarding fair competition within the rapidly growing AI industry. Anthropic, co-founded by former OpenAI executives, received $500 million from Alphabet, with a promise of another $1.5 billion. The company offers genAI models like Claude Al chatbot that compete directly with OpenAI's ChatGPT. Other investors of Anthropic include Amazon, which has invested $4 billion in the AI startup. What the companies have to say In a statement to Reuters, a spokesperson for Anthropic said the company would cooperate with the CMA and provide the "complete picture" of its partnership with Google. "We are an independent company and none of our strategic partnerships or investor relationships diminish the independence of our corporate governance or our freedom to partner with others," the AI startup said. Meanwhile, a Google spokesperson said: "Google is committed to building the most open and innovative AI ecosystem in the world. Anthropic is free to use multiple cloud providers and does, and we don't demand exclusive tech rights." The TOI Tech Desk is a dedicated team of journalists committed to delivering the latest and most relevant news from the world of technology to readers of The Times of India. TOI Tech Desk's news coverage spans a wide spectrum across gadget launches, gadget reviews, trends, in-depth analysis, exclusive reports and breaking stories that impact technology and the digital universe. Be it how-tos or the latest happenings in AI, cybersecurity, personal gadgets, platforms like WhatsApp, Instagram, Facebook and more; TOI Tech Desk brings the news with accuracy and authenticity.

UK probes Google parent's partnership with this Amazon-backed AI company - Times of India

Google-parent company Alphabet is being subjected to scrutiny by the UK's antitrust watchdog over its partnership with artificial intelligence startup Anthropic and its impact on competition. Britain's Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) has invited comments on the transaction from any interested party, in advance of the CMA's formal investigation starting. "The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) is considering whether it is or may be the case that Alphabet's partnership with Anthropic has resulted in the creation of a relevant merger situation under the merger provisions of the Enterprise Act 2002 and, if so, whether the creation of that situation may be expected to result in a substantial lessening of competition within any market or markets in the United Kingdom for goods or services," the regulator said in a statement on Tuesday (July 30). The CMA has set a deadline of August 13 for its invitation to comment. After that, it will decide whether to launch an official investigation at the end of this process. Anthropic, which was co-founded by former OpenAI executives, last year said it had secured $500 million in investment from Alphabet, promising another $1.5 billion over time. Other investors in the startup include Amazon, which has invested $4 billion in the Al startup. Anthropic was founded in 2021 and offers genAI models like Claude Al chatbot that competes directly with OpenAl's ChatGPT. Microsoft's partnership with AI startups under lens Alphabet is not the only tech giant under scrutiny for its investments in AI startups. Microsoft's partnerships with startups such as OpenAI, Inflection AI, and Mistral AI, as well as Alphabet's ties to other smaller companies such as Cohere are also under various regulators' lens. Last week, the CMA issued a joint statement alongside its counterparts in the US and the European Union (EU) to work together to safeguard fair competition in the AI industry. The TOI Tech Desk is a dedicated team of journalists committed to delivering the latest and most relevant news from the world of technology to readers of The Times of India. TOI Tech Desk's news coverage spans a wide spectrum across gadget launches, gadget reviews, trends, in-depth analysis, exclusive reports and breaking stories that impact technology and the digital universe. Be it how-tos or the latest happenings in AI, cybersecurity, personal gadgets, platforms like WhatsApp, Instagram, Facebook and more; TOI Tech Desk brings the news with accuracy and authenticity.

UK antitrust watchdog flags Alphabet partnership with AI startup anthropic

Britain's antitrust watchdog is scrutinising Google-parent Alphabet's partnership with artificial intelligence startup Anthropic and its impact on competition, the regulator said on Tuesday. More than 18 months after Microsoft-backed OpenAI triggered an AI boom with the release of ChatGPT, antitrust regulators around the world have been increasingly concerned by multiple deals struck between smaller industry startups and big tech giants. Agreements under scrutiny include Microsoft's partnerships with startups such as OpenAI, Inflection AI, and Mistral AI, as well as Alphabet's ties to other smaller companies such as Anthropic and Cohere. Anthropic's Claude AI models have vied for prominence with OpenAI's GPT series. Last week, Britain's Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) issued a joint statement alongside its counterparts in the United States and the European Union, promising to work together to safeguard fair competition in the AI industry. Anthropic, which was co-founded by former OpenAI executives and siblings Dario and Daniela Amodei, last year said it had secured $500 million in investment from Alphabet, promising another $1.5 billion over time. Anthropic also uses Alphabet's Google Cloud services as part of its operations. On Tuesday, the CMA said it was now seeking views on whether the Alphabet-Anthropic partnership could lessen competition in the UK, and has set a deadline of Aug. 13 for its invitation to comment. A spokesperson for Anthropic said the company would cooperate with the CMA and provide the "complete picture" about its partnership with Google. "We are an independent company and none of our strategic partnerships or investor relationships diminish the independence of our corporate governance or our freedom to partner with others," they said. The CMA will decide whether to launch an official investigation at the end of this process.

Google's partnership with AI startup Anthropic faces scrutiny from UK competition watchdog

LONDON (AP) -- Britain's competition watchdog said Tuesday it's looking into Google's partnership with artificial intelligence startup Anthropic, adding fresh regulatory scrutiny to investment money flooding into the AI industry. The Competition and Markets Authority said it's seeking comments as it considers whether the deal between the two companies has resulted in a "substantial lessening of competition" in the United Kingdom for AI services. The watchdog said it will accept feedback from "any interested party" until Aug. 13 before deciding whether to open a formal investigation. San Francisco-based Anthropic was founded in 2021 by siblings Dario and Daniela Amodei, who previously worked at ChatGPT maker OpenAI. The company focused heavily on increasing the safety and reliability of AI models. Google reportedly agreed last year to make a multibillion-dollar investment in Anthropic. The U.K. regulator has already been scrutinizing Amazon for investing $4 billion in Anthropic. It has also been probing Microsoft's multibillion-dollar partnership with OpenAI and Microsoft's hiring of startup Inflection AI's key staff over concerns it could thwart competition. "We intend to cooperate with the CMA and provide them with the complete picture about Google's investment and our commercial collaboration," Anthropic said in a statement. "We are an independent company and none of our strategic partnerships or investor relationships diminish the independence of our corporate governance or our freedom to partner with others." Google said it "is committed to building the most open and innovative AI ecosystem in the world." The company said Anthropic, which is using Google's cloud computing services, "is free to use multiple cloud providers and does, and we don't demand exclusive tech rights."

Google's Partnership With AI Startup Anthropic Faces Scrutiny From UK Competition Watchdog

LONDON (AP) -- Britain's competition watchdog said Tuesday it's looking into Google's partnership with artificial intelligence startup Anthropic, adding fresh regulatory scrutiny to investment money flooding into the AI industry. The Competition and Markets Authority said it's seeking comments as it considers whether the deal between the two companies has resulted in a "substantial lessening of competition" in the United Kingdom for AI services. The watchdog said it will accept feedback from "any interested party" until Aug. 13 before deciding whether to open a formal investigation. San Francisco-based Anthropic was founded in 2021 by siblings Dario and Daniela Amodei, who previously worked at ChatGPT maker OpenAI. The company focused heavily on increasing the safety and reliability of AI models. Google reportedly agreed last year to make a multibillion-dollar investment in Anthropic. The U.K. regulator has already been scrutinizing Amazon for investing $4 billion in Anthropic. It has also been probing Microsoft's multibillion-dollar partnership with OpenAI and Microsoft's hiring of startup Inflection AI's key staff over concerns it could thwart competition. "We intend to cooperate with the CMA and provide them with the complete picture about Google's investment and our commercial collaboration," Anthropic said in a statement. "We are an independent company and none of our strategic partnerships or investor relationships diminish the independence of our corporate governance or our freedom to partner with others." Google said it "is committed to building the most open and innovative AI ecosystem in the world." The company said Anthropic, which is using Google's cloud computing services, "is free to use multiple cloud providers and does, and we don't demand exclusive tech rights." Copyright 2024 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Google parent's partnership with AI startup Anthropic under UK scrutiny

Agreements under scrutiny include Microsoft's partnerships with startups such as OpenAI, Inflection AI, and Mistral AI, as well as Alphabet's ties to other smaller companies such as Anthropic and Cohere. Anthropic's Claude AI models have vied for prominence with OpenAI's GPT series. Last week, Britain's Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) issued a joint statement alongside its counterparts in the United States and the European Union, promising to work together to safeguard fair competition in the AI industry. Anthropic, which was co-founded by former OpenAI executives and siblings Dario and Daniela Amodei, last year said it had secured $500 million in investment from Alphabet, promising another $1.5 billion over time. On Tuesday, the CMA said it was now seeking views on whether the Alphabet-Anthropic partnership could lessen competition in the UK, and has set a deadline of Aug. 13 for its invitation to comment. The body will decide whether to launch an official investigation at the end of this process. Alphabet did not immediately respond to a request for comment. A spokesperson for Anthropic declined to comment. (Reporting by Yadarisa Shabong in Bengaluru and Martin Coulter in London; Editing by Shounak Dasgupta and Louise Heavens)

Google parent's partnership with AI startup Anthropic under UK investigation

(Reuters) -Britain's competition watchdog is investigating Google-parent Alphabet's partnership with AI startup Anthropic and its impact on competition, the regulator said on Tuesday. This becomes the latest AI partnership to come under scrutiny by the UK's Competition and Markets Authority (CMA), which earlier this month launched a probe into Microsoft's hiring of some former staff of Inflection AI and its partnership with the startup.

Google's AI Partnership With Anthropic Draws Regulatory Scrutiny in UK

Google parent Alphabet (GOOGL) is facing scrutiny from U.K. regulators surrounding the tech giant's partnership with artificial intelligence (AI) startup Anthropic. The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA), the U.K.'s antitrust watchdog agency, said Tuesday it's examining how the partnership between Alphabet and Anthropic could have effectively resulted in a merger situation that would negatively impact competition in the region. The news comes after a number of other partnerships between big tech companies and AI startups have attracted scrutiny from regulators in the U.K., the U.S., and the European Union. Earlier this month, U.K. regulators opened an investigation into Microsoft's (MSFT) hiring of former Inflection AI employees and related agreements. The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) is also reportedly investigating Microsoft's actions with Inflection AI to determine if they violated antitrust rules for M&A. Microsoft's ongoing partnership with ChatGPT maker OpenAI has drawn the attention of competition regulators as well. Alphabet shares were little changed in intraday trading Tuesday following the news. The stock has gained about 21% since the start of the year.

UK regulator looks at Google's partnership with Anthropic

CMA to consider whether deal with AI startup is a potential merger, which could prompt full investigation The Competition and Markets Authority has launched a preliminary investigation into a partnership between Google and Anthropic, marking the latest in a string of investigations into deals between big tech companies and AI startups. Google invested $2bn into Anthropic in 2023, shortly after signing a cloud computing agreement with the startup, which develops the Claude LLM and chatbot. The CMA is now considering whether the partnership has "resulted in the creation of a relevant merger situation" which would allow the agency to begin a formal investigation. It is inviting comments over the next two weeks. The move comes amid broader concerns about competition in the generative AI sector. A deal between Amazon and Anthropic is also being investigated by the CMA as a potential merger, after Amazon took a $4bn stake in the company and signed a deal to become one of the startup's cloud computing providers. Similar investigations have been launched by the CMA against OpenAI and Microsoft after the latter took a substantial stake in the ChatGPT maker's for-profit arm, and against Microsoft and AI startup Inflection, after the tech giant hired the startup's founder and leadership team alongside signing an access deal for the company's AI models. Another investigation into a deal between Microsoft and French AI startup Mistral was dropped in May. Regulators are concerned about the concentration of power in the hands of big tech, meaning outright acquisitions are rarely attempted, particularly in competitive sectors such as AI. But the CMA is keeping a keen eye out for arrangements that may hamper competition in other ways. An Anthropic spokesperson denied that the partnership was a merger. "We are an independent company and none of our strategic partnerships or investor relationships diminish the independence of our corporate governance or our freedom to partner with others," the company said. Meanwhile a Google spokesperson the company "is committed to building the most open and innovative AI ecosystem in the world". The added: "Anthropic is free to use multiple cloud providers and does, and we don't demand exclusive tech rights."

Google-Anthropic Partnership Catches Eye of UK Watchdog

Great Britain's competition regulator is examining Google's partnership with artificial intelligence (AI) startup Anthropic. The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) said Tuesday (July 30) it is "considering whether it is or may be the case that this partnership has resulted in the creation of a relevant merger situation under the merger provisions of the Enterprise Act 2002." If so, the CMA said in its announcement, the regulator will look into "whether the creation of that relevant merger situation has resulted, or may be expected to result, in a substantial lessening of competition within any market or markets in the United Kingdom for goods or services." The CMA is giving interested parties until Aug. 13 to comment on the situation. Google last year invested $500 million into Anthropic, with the promise of significantly greater investments still to come. Similar AI-focused partnerships, such as the one between Microsoft and OpenAI, have also drawn scrutiny from regulators. And last week, antitrust bodies from the U.S., U.K. and the European Union (EU) issued a rare joint statement outlining their concerns about market concentration and anti-competitive practices in the field of generative AI -- the technology governing popular chatbots such as OpenAI's ChatGPT. "There are risks that firms may attempt to restrict key inputs for the development of AI technologies," the watchdogs warned, stressing the need for action in a rapidly evolving field. The regulators pointed to three key risks: control of critical resources, market power entrenchment and harmful partnerships, saying they were especially worried about how existing digital market leaders might leverage their positions. The statement argued that "the AI ecosystem will be better off the more that firms engage in fair dealing," underlying principles of interoperability and choice. "While the authorities can't create unified regulations, their alignment suggests a coordinated approach to oversight," PYMNTS wrote. "In the coming months, this could mean a closer examination of AI-related mergers, partnerships and business practices." Meanwhile, PYMNTS wrote Tuesday about the burgeoning field of AI ethics, which asks a critical question: How do we make sure intelligent machines serve humanity's best interests? This field grapples with the moral implications of an increasingly automated world, from job displacement to existential risks. "AI ethics encompasses a wide range of concerns, including privacy, bias, transparency, accountability, and the long-term societal impacts of artificial intelligence," that report said. "As AI systems become more sophisticated and autonomous, the ethical questions surrounding their development and deployment grow increasingly complex and urgent."

Google-Anthropic partnership raises AI competition fears in the UK

Big tech's increasing investments into AI startups are raising eyebrows Google's partnership with GenAI startup Anthropic is raising eyebrows in the UK as the trend of big tech giants backing young AI companies continues. The Competitions and Markets Authority (CMA) said on Tuesday that it's collecting information on whether the partnership qualifies as a merger and negatively impacts UK competition. In October, Google-parent company Alphabet reportedly committed $2bn to the San-Francisco based startup, which has developed ChatGPT rival Claude. This followed a prior $300 investment in return for a what was said to be a 10% stake. The CMA is now asking "interested parties" to provide comments on the deal between the two companies by August 13. It will then decide whether to proceed with a formal investigation. The regulator is also looking into Amazon's $4bn investment in Anthropic, as well as Microsoft's relationship with OpenAI. In addition, it has opened a formal probe into Microsoft, after it reportedly poached core team members from Inflection AI, another startup the company had previously invested in. In April, the CMA said it had uncovered an "interconnected web of over 90 partnerships and strategic investments" in the AI sector involving big tech companies. It expressed concerns that such deals could further amplify their existing market power across the entire foundational model value chain. Last week, the CMA also partnered with antitrust regulators in the EU and the US in an effort to protect fair competition in AI. In a joint statement, the three agencies identified deals with key players as a major competition risk that can "steer market outcomes." "As an industry we should be cautious over powerful partnerships as they pose a threat to the entire ecosystem," said Josh Mesout, Chief Innovation Officer of cloud computing startup Civo. Mesout added that such threats range from unfair market practices to stifling innovation and limiting consumer choice. "We cannot surrender AI to a virtual monopoly before it has really started."

UK launches antitrust probe into Google and Anthropic

Last October, Google agreed to invest $2bn in Anthropic, becoming its 'preferred cloud provider'. Google parent Alphabet is under scrutiny in the UK for its ties to AI start-up Anthropic and whether they are in breach of competition laws in the country. Anthropic is the creator of Claude, a generative AI model that in close competition with OpenAI's ChatGPT. It was founded by former OpenAI employees and siblings Daniela and Dario Amodei in 2021. The start-up based in San Francisco is backed by industry heavyweights such as Amazon, Google and Salesforce. Last October, Google agreed to invest $2bn in Anthropic, which included a $500m initial cash infusion and an additional $1.5bn over time. Earlier in the year, Google invested $300m in the company for a 10pc stake. As a result, Anthropic agreed to make Google Cloud its "preferred cloud provider" with the companies "co-develop[ing] AI computing systems". Now, the UK Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) is probing whether Alphabet's partnership with Anthropic has created what is known as a "relevant merger situation" that can lead to a "substantial lessening of competition" in the UK market. In a statement published today (30 July), the CMA invited comments on the partnership from "any interested party" ahead of the launch of a formal investigation. It set 13 August as the deadline for comments. Amazon also announced plans to invest up to $4bn in Anthropic and that its cloud business, Amazon Web Services, would be the primary cloud provider for the start-up. Earlier this year, Anthropic debuted a trio of tools called Claude 3 Opus, Haiku and Sonnet, claiming that the suite sets new industry benchmarks across a wide range of cognitive tasks. The company also has plans to open its first EU office in Dublin. The competition probe comes just two weeks after the CMA launched a investigation into whether Microsoft hiring former employees of Inflection AI and other deals between the two parties has implications relevant to a merger situation. Microsoft, which like Google has been pumping billions into AI development, hired former Inflection and DeepMind scientist Jordan Hoffman to lead a new AI hub in London. Other hires include Inflection co-founders Karén Simonyan and Mustafa Suleyman, the latter of whom was hired by Microsoft to head its overall AI business. Find out how emerging tech trends are transforming tomorrow with our new podcast, Future Human: The Series. Listen now on Spotify, on Apple or wherever you get your podcasts.

UK regulator seeks feedback for potential probe into Google-Anthropic partnership - SiliconANGLE

UK regulator seeks feedback for potential probe into Google-Anthropic partnership The UK's antitrust watchdog today took a first step toward a potential probe into Google LLC's partnership with Anthropic PBC. San Francisco-based Anthropic is one of OpenAI's best-funded competitors with more than $7 billion raised to date. It develops a line of large language models called the Claude series. The company's newest model, which debuted earlier this month, can outperform OpenAI's flagship GPT-4o across several task types. Google LLC became an investor in Anthropic last February through a $300 million investment. The deal reportedly bought the search giant a 10% stake. Google subsequently backed a follow-up $450 million round for Anthropic along with other investors and, more recently, inked a deal to invest up to $2 billion in the startup. The UK's antitrust regulator, the Competition and Markets Authority, today asked interested parties to provide feedback about the Google-Anthropic partnership. CMA officials are seeking to determine whether the deal could negatively impact market competition in the UK. Interested parties have until August 13 to submit arguments. As part of the inquiry, the CMA will examine whether Google's partnership with Anthropic constitutes a "relevant merger situation." This is a regulatory term that covers deals in which two companies cease to be distinct or are nearing such an outcome. Requests for feedback from the CMA can lead to a so-called Phase 1 antitrust investigation. Such a probe can end with a decision in favor of the company being scrutinized or a more detailed Phase 2 probe that usually takes several months. At the end of the latter investigation, the CMA may order the company to change any business practices that were found to be in breach of antitrust rules. The watchdog is launching its inquiry a few days after Anthropic debuted its newest and most advanced LLM, Claude 3.5 Sonnet. The model outperformed GPT-4o across six of the eight task collections that the company tested in an internal comparison. According to Anthropic, Claude 3.5 Sonnet can also generate responses about twice as fast as its previous flagship LLM. Ahead of the model's release, the company submitted it to the UK's Artificial Intelligence Safety Institute. That's a newly launched government organization tasked with studying the potential risks posed by new AI systems. Anthropic told TechCrunch that "we intend to cooperate with the CMA and provide them with the complete picture about Google's investment and our commercial collaboration. We are an independent company and none of our strategic partnerships or investor relationships diminish the independence of our corporate governance or our freedom to partner with others." Google, for its part, said in a statement that "Anthropic is free to use multiple cloud providers and does, and we don't demand exclusive tech rights." Anthropic has also raised $4 billion from Google rival Amazon.com Inc. through an investment that closed in March. At the time of the deal's announcement, the LLM developer stated that it would use Amazon Web Services Inc. infrastructure to train its new models. That partnership likewise caught the attention of the CMA, which in April asked interested parties to provide input about the deal.

Google's parent Alphabet and AI firm Anthropic under UK investigation

This is not the first investigation from a competition authority into Big Tech's investment in an AI company. The UK's Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) is investigating a relationship between Google's parent company Alphabet and the AI firm Anthropic to see if it has reduced competition. The CMA will identify whether a partnership between the two firms is a "relevant merger situation" and that it might result in a "substantial lessening of competition" in the UK's burgeoning artificial intelligence (AI) industry. Google agreed to invest up to $2 billion (€1.85 billion) last October, multiple media outlets said, on top of a reported 10 per cent stake that they have in the company. Anthropic is behind Claude, a chatbot that is rivalling ChatGPT from OpenAI. This is the second investigation from the CMA into investments in Anthropic: they are also evaluating Amazon's injection of up to $4 billion (€3.70 billion) in the business. In May, the CMA concluded another investigation into Microsoft's €15 billion investment in France's Mistral AI, where they decided there was not enough evidence of a merger to continue their investigation. Sarah Cardell, the authority's CEO, said in a speech earlier this year that they have "real concerns" about how they say a web of roughly 90 partnerships between the same few big firms will affect competition. The firms Cardell identified were Google, Apple, Microsoft, Meta, Amazon and NVIDIA, the leading supplier of GPU chips used to train AI models. "The essential challenge we face is how to harness this immensely exciting technology for the benefit of all, while safeguarding against potential exploitation of market power and unintended consequences," she said in a statement in April. Euronews Next reached out to Alphabet and Anthropic but didn't receive an immediate reply.

Alphabet's partnership with AI startup Anthropic under UK scrutiny

On Tuesday, the CMA said it was now seeking views on whether the Alphabet-Anthropic partnership could lessen competition in the UK, and has set a deadline of Aug. 13 for its invitation to comment. A spokesperson for Anthropic said the company would cooperate with the CMA and provide the "complete picture" about its partnership with Google. "We are an independent company and none of our strategic partnerships or investor relationships diminish the independence of our corporate governance or our freedom to partner with others," they said.