FTC says Microsoft-OpenAI partnerships raise antitrust concerns.

The Federal Trade Commission stated in A staff report released Friday indicated that there were potential competitive issues with partnerships between big tech companies, and generative AI developers. This was specifically in relation to Microsoft’s support of OpenAI, and Amazon’s and Alphabet/Google’s partnerships with Anthropic.

The FTC report sheds light how partnerships between big tech companies and generative AI developers can create lock-in. It can also deprive startups of key AI inputs and reveal sensitive information which can undermine fair competition, said FTC Chair Lina K. Khan in A statement. (President-elect Donald Trump intends to replace Khan as chairman.)

This report focuses on Microsoft’s, Amazon’s, and Google’s roles as cloud service provider working with OpenAI, and Anthropic. It suggests that these partnerships may affect access to computing and engineering talent, and increase switching costs for businesses working with AI developers. They could also give cloud providers exclusive access to sensitive data. Microsoft’s deputy General Counsel Rima Alaily. Subscribe to the latest tech news in the industry

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