The UK antitrust agency approves the partnership between Google and Anthropic
The UK's Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) has approved the partnership between Google and the artificial intelligence company Anthropic, determining that the deal does not meet the criteria for a full investigation, thus avoiding further scrutiny. The CMA stated that Google does not have "substantial influence" over Anthropic. This partnership has drawn attention following Google's commitment to invest $2 billion, with the CMA expressing concerns about the tech giant's investments in the field of artificial intelligence. Meanwhile, Amazon's investment in Anthropic has been approved, while Microsoft's investment in OpenAI is still under review
According to the Zhitong Finance APP, the UK Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) stated on Tuesday that under merger rules, the collaboration between Google (GOOGL.US) and artificial intelligence company Anthropic does not meet the criteria for a comprehensive investigation, allowing the deal to avoid further scrutiny. The regulator indicated that Google did not have a "substantial impact" on Anthropic due to this transaction. Last year, after Google, under Alphabet, committed to investing $2 billion in the startup, the agency began to cautiously consider this partnership. Before the financing, Google also signed a significant cloud services agreement with Anthropic.
The CMA has been at the forefront of global regulators to ensure that the significant bets tech giants are making in the artificial intelligence industry do not distort the market or lead to the emergence of a few omnipotent companies. The agency has expressed concerns about the "interconnectedness" of collaborations and investments in the AI sector.
While Amazon's (AMZN.US) $4 billion investment in Anthropic was approved in September, Microsoft's (MSFT.US) investment in OpenAI is still under CMA review. Following a relatively swift investigation, the CMA also approved Microsoft's acquisitions of Mistral and Inflection.
This decision will provide some relief to the company facing trials, as numerous antitrust cases in the U.S. and Europe have piled up, including one that could force Google to sell its Chrome browser. The U.S. Federal Trade Commission and the European Union are also investigating various collaborations.
A Google spokesperson did not immediately respond to a request for comment after the statement was released. Google previously stated that Anthropic could use multiple cloud providers for free and does not require exclusive technology rights