Google’s $2 billion Anthropic investment faces U.K. antitrust scrutiny

Ever since the boom of OpenAI’s ChatGPT, Tech Giants have been acquiring AI startups left and right. Recently, UK antitrust officials mentioned that they are probing into Google’s investment in Anthropic, another AI startup. 

The officials want to make sure that this investment does not pose a threat to competition. A similar collaboration between Anthropic and Amazon.com was cleared earlier. 

In July, the Competition and Markets Authority started reviewing Google’s investment in Anthropic. Now, a merger inquiry has been opened into the matter, and a decision is due by 19th December 2024 on whether more investigation is required. 

Investments into AI startups have been booming

Large tech companies have been heavily investing into AI startups since late 2022, when OpenAI’s ChatGPT gained prominence. Late last year, Google raised a $2 billion investment in Anthropic to improve its footing in the AI master race. The tech giant’s purpose was clear, it wanted to compete with other rivals like Amazon, OpenAI, and Microsoft. 

In comparison, Amazon invested $4 billion in Anthropic. After all, it is a startup founded by former employees of Open AI. Anthropic has been actively battling against ChatGPT to secure huge investments from companies that can provide training resources required for large-scale language models.

CMA’s probe is a setback for tech giants including Google

The current probe is a setback for the search engine giant, Google. That is because just a month ago, British antitrust officials cleared Amazon’s larger investment in the same startup. Not only that, but the CMA also gave Microsoft a clean slate for hiring former Inflection AI employees. 

Regarding this, a spokesman from Google stated, “Google is committed to building the most open and innovative AI ecosystem in the world.” 

At the same time, a representative from Anthropic mentioned that the startup will provide full cooperation to the CMA and provide a clear picture of the investment along with commercial collaboration. 

A representative from Anthropic mentioned, “We are an independent company and none of our strategic partnerships or investor relationships diminish the independence of our corporate governance or our freedom to partner with others.”

Google does not have any veto rights over commercial decisions from Anthropic. That is because the company does not have any board seats or any voting rights within the AI company. 

This does not only impact Google, but also other tech giants after the Federal Trade Commission started an inquiry into partnerships revolving around generative AI earlier in 2024. It includes Alphabet, Anthropic, OpenAO, Amazon, and Microsoft. The five companies have been given orders by the FTC to provide more information about their AI startup investments.