Microsoft is facing a UK antitrust investigation following its hiring of key staff from Inflection AI, including co-founder Mustafa Suleyman who now heads Microsoft's AI division. The UK's Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) is looking into whether this employment move violates merger rules and potentially harms competition.
This probe comes on the heels of Microsoft's past run-ins with antitrust regulators, such as restructuring its Activision deal and relinquishing cloud rights, in addition to facing EU charges for bundling Teams and risking significant fines.
The CMA is examining if the hiring of Inflection AI talent, alongside Microsoft's investments in Mistral AI and Amazon's Anthropic deal, could be construed as 'quasi-mergers' that impede competition. Furthermore, the issue of Big Tech companies engaging in 'reverse acqui-hire' by poaching AI startup talent, as highlighted by U.S. senators, adds another layer of scrutiny regarding monopolistic practices in the AI industry.
With concerns over industry consolidation and competition, regulatory bodies are closely monitoring Microsoft, Amazon, and other tech giants in their strategic moves within the AI sector.
