According to Reuters,USAThe Department of Justice and the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) recently reached an agreement to divide the scope of their investigations.Microsoft,OpenAIandNvidiaLeading role in the artificial intelligence industryAntitrustThe deal is expected to be finalized in the coming days, the sources said.
According to the agreement, the Department of Justice will lead the investigation into whether Nvidia has violated antitrust laws, while the FTC will review the actions of OpenAI and Microsoft. It is particularly noteworthy that although OpenAI's parent company is a non-profit organization, Microsoft has invested $13 billion in its for-profit subsidiary and acquired up to 49% equity. In addition to the United States, Microsoft's partnership with OpenAI has also been informally reviewed in other regions.
Source Note: The image is generated by AI, and the image is authorized by Midjourney
In addition, the Wall Street Journal reported on Thursday that the FTC is investigating Microsoft's $650 million acquisition of AI startup Inflection AI. These moves reflect the regulator's significantly increased attention to the AI industry. As early as January this year, the FTC asked OpenAI, Microsoft, Alphabet, Amazon, and Anthropic to provide detailed information on investments and collaborations between generative AI companies and cloud service providers.
Jonathan Kanter, the US antitrust chief, said at an AI conference last week that there are "structures and trends in the AI industry that should alert us." He stressed that AI technology relies on massive amounts of data and computing power, which could bring huge advantages to companies that already have a dominant position.
As of press time, Microsoft, OpenAI, Nvidia, the Department of Justice and the FTC did not immediately respond to requests for comment. Industry insiders pointed out that this round of investigations shows that as AI technology penetrates into various fields, its market structure and influence have attracted great attention from regulators. The future development of AI companies may seek a more delicate balance between innovation and compliance.