Open Markets, a civil society group, has joined forces with other organisations to call for an investigation into Microsoft's $13 billion partnership with OpenAI. The coalition submitted their concerns to the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA), highlighting the potential anti-competitive implications of the partnership.
The coalition includes not only Open Markets but also the Irish Council for Civil Liberties, Mozilla, Foxglove, the Balanced Economy Project and others, according to an Open Markets press release.
Max von Thun, Europe Director of Open Markets, stated in a press release: "As we've seen in the past, tech giants use strategic investments and acquisitions to entrench their hold over key digital markets, eliminating potential rivals and monopolising access to innovative new technologies. The Microsoft/OpenAI partnership should be seen in the same light."
The submission underscored various implications including Microsoft's significant influence over OpenAI's decision-making process. As evidence of this influence, Open Markets referred to the recent firing and rehiring of OpenAI CEO Sam Altman. It was noted that Microsoft pressured the board to reverse its decision and when unsuccessful, offered Altman a different position within Microsoft. Furthermore, it was suggested that the partnership gives Microsoft exclusive access to technology while increasing OpenAI's reliance on Microsoft's computing infrastructure.
The submission presented by Open Markets also listed specific issues for CMA consideration such as determining how independently OpenAI is allowed by Microsoft to compete and assessing whether Microsoft has privileged access to OpenAI's technology.
In its submission, the coalition wrote: "Weak antitrust enforcement has helped create a world in which a handful of dominant technology firms control most of the world’s digital technologies and markets — the bedrock of the modern economy. These gatekeepers are now leveraging their unparalleled access to computing infrastructure, data and expertise to shape the development and commercialisation of AI — including driving the narrative that ever-larger models and ever-greater scale are inevitable."
