On August 8th local time, the UK Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) announced the launch of an investigation into Amazon's partnership with artificial intelligence startup Anthropic.
Amazon has injected approximately $4 billion into Anthropic and acquired a minority stake in the latter. CMA stated that the agency is attempting to determine whether Amazon's relationship with Anthropic should be seen as a "de facto merger that could stifle competition in the UK," and will make a preliminary decision by October 4th.
An Amazon spokesperson responded by stating that the company is disappointed with CMA's decision, and that Amazon's relationship with Anthropic has not raised any competition concerns or met the review threshold set by CMA. The spokesperson stated that Amazon does not have a board seat or decision-making power in Anthropic, which means the latter can freely choose any other partner.