Too dominant?

AI companies face further investigations in the USA

Microsoft, OpenAI and Nvidia are facing further investigations into their dominant role in artificial intelligence (AI). The US Department of Justice and the antitrust authority FTC have agreed to continue the investigations, an insider told the news agency Reuters on Thursday.

The Department is focusing on possible antitrust violations by chip manufacturer Nvidia and the FTC on the behavior of ChatGPT developer OpenAI and its partner Microsoft. The "New York Times" had previously reported on the agreement

Microsoft has invested 13 billion dollars (around twelve billion euros) in the commercial subsidiary of the non-profit organization OpenAI. Nvidia controls around 80 percent of the global market for high-performance AI processors, which can cost tens of thousands of dollars each.

Microsoft's multi-million dollar deal under the microscope
At the beginning of the year, the FTC requested information on AI partnerships and investments from Microsoft, OpenAI, Google parent company Alphabet, online retailer Amazon and AI developer Anthropic. The antitrust authority is also investigating Microsoft's 650 million dollar deal with Inflection AI for possible violations of disclosure requirements for company takeovers, the insider said.

As part of the transaction, the software company is allowed to use Inflection's AI and poach a large part of the workforce, including the company's founders.

According to Microsoft, this agreement serves to further develop the AI assistant "Copilot", while Inflection retains its independence. Nvidia did not wish to comment on the agreement between the Department of Justice and the FTC. OpenAI was initially unavailable for comment.