Microsoft Faces UK Competition Investigation Over Hiring Of AI Startup’s Founder And Key Staff

LONDON — British regulators launched a preliminary probe on Tuesday into Microsoft’s hire of an AI startup’s key personnel, citing fears that it could stifle competition in the burgeoning artificial intelligence field.

The Competition and Markets Authority stated that its evaluation of Inflection AI’s hiring, including co-founder and CEO Mustafa Suleyman, revealed “sufficient information” to warrant an investigation.

Suleyman, along with many other top engineers and researchers, was hired as head of Microsoft’s consumer artificial intelligence business early this year. Before establishing Inflection, Suleyman co-founded the AI research lab DeepMind, which is now acquired by Google, and is regarded as a significant player in the AI community.

The watchdog has stated that it is investigating whether the hirings constitute a merger that results in “a substantial lessening of competition” in the United Kingdom’s AI industry, violating the country’s antitrust laws.

Microsoft | AP news Image

Microsoft Faces UK Competition Investigation Over Hiring Of AI Startup’s Founder And Key Staff

Microsoft stated that employing talent encourages competition and does not constitute a merger. “We will provide the UK Competition and Markets Authority with the information it needs to complete its inquiries expeditiously.”

The British authority has until September 11 to determine whether to approve the probe or escalate it to an in-depth investigation. The authority can reverse transactions or apply remedies to address competitive issues.

Authorities on both sides of the Atlantic are concerned about how major technology giants are snatching up the people and products of emerging AI startups without formally acquiring them.

Last week, three members of the United States Senate wrote to antitrust officials at the Justice Department and the Federal Trade Commission requesting they investigate Amazon’s transaction with San Francisco-based Adept. The agreement would see Adept’s CEO and senior personnel travel to Amazon and grant the e-commerce giant a license to Adept’s AI technology and datasets.

Microsoft Faces UK Competition Investigation Over Hiring Of AI Startup’s Founder And Key Staff

The senators pointed out that the FTC is already investigating the Microsoft-Inflection agreement, which they described as “alarmingly similar to the one between Amazon and Adept, and it effectively eliminated a major competitor to OpenAI.”

SOURCE | AP