British antitrust is investigating the link between Google and Anthropic | Festina Lente - Your leading source of AI news | Turtles AI

 UK Antitrust Investigation into Ties Between Google and Anthropic

Key Points:
1. The UK Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) examines Google’s investment in Anthropic.
2. The CMA collects comments from interested parties until August 13, 2024.
3. Google’s investment includes $2.3 billion in two funding rounds.
4. The CMA’s decision will depend on the assessment of Google’s control over Anthropic.

The U.K. antitrust authority, the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA), recently opened a preliminary investigation into links between Google and Anthropic, a U.S.-based startup in the artificial intelligence sector. This move is in response to significant investments made by Google, a subsidiary of Alphabet, which has poured $2.3 billion into Anthropic through various funding rounds.

 An Assessment of the Partnership

While the CMA has not yet launched a formal investigation, it is inviting interested parties to provide comments by August 13, 2024. The goal is to determine whether the partnership between Google and Anthropic constitutes a "relevant merger situation" and could lead to a "substantial lessening of competition" in the UK market.

Founded in San Francisco in 2021, Anthropic stands out in the AI landscape for its focus on security, transparency, and risk mitigation, operating as a Public Benefit Corporation (PBC). Among its core products, Anthropic has developed large language models (LLMs) and a chatbot called Claude, in direct competition with OpenAI’s ChatGPT and Google’s Bard.

 Strategic Investments and Regulatory Concerns.

The CMA’s attention is not limited only to Google’s investments. In fact, Amazon has also invested $4 billion in Anthropic, raising further concerns about how tech giants might influence the market through strategic investments in innovative startups without attracting the regulatory scrutiny that a full merger would entail.

This strategy, referred to as a "quasi-merger," involves large tech companies acquiring significant stakes and establishing close ties with promising startups, potentially reducing their independence. The CMA has already examined similar deals, such as Microsoft’s investment in French startup Mistral AI, and is considering other partnerships between large companies and emerging startups in the AI sector.

 Next Steps and Implications

The CMA’s decision on a possible formal investigation will depend on its assessment of Google’s level of control over Anthropic. If Google’s investment is considered a minority stake without material control over the startup, the authority may decide not to proceed with further investigation, as happened with Microsoft’s investment in Mistral AI.

Anthropic has reiterated its independence despite Google’s investment, saying that none of its strategic partnerships compromise its corporate governance or freedom to collaborate with other partners. A spokesperson for the startup said, "Anthropic’s independence is a key attribute, integral to our mission of public benefit and service to our customers."

 Conclusion

The outcome of the CMA’s investigation could have significant implications for the future of collaborations between large technology companies and innovative startups in the AI sector TechCrunch has reached out to Alphabet for further comment and will continue to follow developments.