📣 FTC Scrutinizes Microsoft-Inflection AI Deal
posted 6 Jun 2024
The U.S. Federal Trade Commission (FTC) is investigating Microsoft for potentially trying to circumvent antitrust regulations in its $650 million acquisition of AI startup Inflection AI. The agency has requested pertinent documents and is conducting a preliminary review.
Under the law, any transaction over $119.5 million must be reported, and the FTC can block deals if they threaten competition. FTC Chair Lina Khan has previously raised concerns about tech giants monopolizing the AI sector through such acquisitions.
Should the FTC find any violations, it may sue to impose fines on Microsoft and suspend the deal pending further investigation. Similar investigations are being conducted by the FTC into OpenAI, with Microsoft as a primary investor, while the U.S. Department of Justice is probing Nvidia.
Inflection AI’s flagship product is a large language model used in the personal AI chatbot Pi. In a bid to develop a new product, Microsoft hired almost the entire Inflection AI team, including co-founder Mustafa Suleyman, for a new Microsoft AI division, costing $650 million.
Under the law, any transaction over $119.5 million must be reported, and the FTC can block deals if they threaten competition. FTC Chair Lina Khan has previously raised concerns about tech giants monopolizing the AI sector through such acquisitions.
Should the FTC find any violations, it may sue to impose fines on Microsoft and suspend the deal pending further investigation. Similar investigations are being conducted by the FTC into OpenAI, with Microsoft as a primary investor, while the U.S. Department of Justice is probing Nvidia.
Inflection AI’s flagship product is a large language model used in the personal AI chatbot Pi. In a bid to develop a new product, Microsoft hired almost the entire Inflection AI team, including co-founder Mustafa Suleyman, for a new Microsoft AI division, costing $650 million.
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