Microsoft is facing a wave of ongoing competition and regulation in the field of artificial intelligence.
On July 16th, the UK Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) announced on its official website that it has launched a preliminary investigation into Microsoft's hiring of key employees at an artificial intelligence startup.
It is reported that in March of this year, Microsoft hired Mustafa Suleyman, the founder of InflectionAI, a startup with significant influence in the field of artificial intelligence, to oversee its AI business. At the same time, Microsoft has also poached several top engineers and researchers from InflectionAI.
As part of the transaction, Microsoft agreed to pay approximately $650 million to InflectionAI - allowing Microsoft to use InflectionAI's artificial intelligence model, and InflectionAI can use this money to repay many investors, including Bill Gates.
At that time, Microsoft explained to the public that this was only a recruitment decision aimed at establishing an AI department, not an acquisition plan.
But in the latest announcement, CMA stated that it will investigate Microsoft's hiring of some former employees of InflectionAI and the related agreements reached between Microsoft and InflectionAI to study whether it may constitute a statutory "merger" situation. If it constitutes a 'merger', CMA will further evaluate whether this action violates UK antitrust laws and leads to a 'significant reduction in competition' in the UK artificial intelligence market.
In response to the CMA investigation, Microsoft stated in its latest statement: "We believe that talent recruitment promotes competition and should not be seen as a merger. We will provide the necessary information to the UK Competition and Markets Authority to enable it to quickly complete the investigation
According to a previous report by a reporter from Southern Metropolis Daily, with the rapid development of the artificial intelligence industry, regulatory agencies around the world are increasingly concerned about potential anti competitive behavior in the industry. Regulators are beginning to worry that large tech companies are devouring industry talent and products in various ways without formally acquiring AI startups.
Not long ago at the end of June, Margrethe Vestager, the Vice President of the European Commission for Competition, talked about the "talent flow" between Microsoft and InflectionAI.
Vestager stated that the European Commission is investigating so-called "acquisition employment" practices (where a company acquires another company primarily for the purpose of acquiring talent). She pointed out, "If these practices ultimately lead to business concentration, we will ensure that they do not evade our merger control rules
Moreover, the "interaction" between Microsoft and OpenAI is also a major regulatory focus. According to Vestager, the EU will seek more third-party opinions on the cooperation between Microsoft and OpenAI. In June, there were also reports that the US Federal Trade Commission was investigating Microsoft's recent collaborations and transactions with artificial intelligence startups OpenAI and InflectionAI.
Subsequently, on July 10th, Microsoft announced the abandonment of its observer seat on the OpenAI board of directors, attempting to maintain a certain distance from the artificial intelligence company OpenAI to dispel concerns from antitrust regulators.
Microsoft's layout in the artificial intelligence market will not stop, and regulatory agencies will continue to pay attention to this.