UK’s competition regulator investigates Google’s partnership with AI firm Anthropic

Inquiry launched against Alphabet, Anthropic due to potential ‘lessening of competition,’ says British antitrust body

By Emir Yildirim

ISTANBUL (AA) – The UK’s Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) launched an investigation into the partnership of Google-parent Alphabet and the AI startup Anthropic on Tuesday.

The CMA stated that the inquiry was made on the basis that the partnership may yield “a substantial lessening of competition,” since it may result in “a relevant merger situation under the merger provisions of the Enterprise Act 2002.”

The antitrust body said that the deadline for Alphabet and Anthropic’s invitation to comment is Aug. 13.

Alphabet and Anthropic partnership attracted attention last year due to the AI startup’s product “Claude” chat bot, a direct competitor to OpenAI’s ChatGPT.

Google agreed to make a $500 million investment to Anthropic last year, with an additional investment of $1.5 billion over time.

Kaynak:

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