The 海角视频's Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) has officially launched an inquiry into the merger between Alphabet Inc. , Google's parent company, and AI safety firm Anthropic.
The regulatory body had sought opinions on the deal earlier this year and confirmed on Thursday that it now has "sufficient information" to proceed with a formal probe, as reported by .
In a pivotal move for the AI sector, Alphabet channelled $500 million into Anthropic in 2023, alongside a future commitment of $1.5 billion over an undefined period. In addition, Anthropic relies on Google Cloud as part of its operational infrastructure.
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Anthropic is renowned for developing Claude, a sophisticated large language model that vies with OpenAI's ChatGPT.
The CMA is tasked with determining by 19 December 2024 whether the Alphabet-Anthropic merger requires a deeper phase two investigation.
Requests for comment from both Alphabet and Anthropic were not immediately returned.
A previous statement from a Google representative emphasized the tech giant's dedication to cultivating a broadly accessible and innovative AI environment. They stated: "Google is committed to building the most open and innovative AI ecosystem in the world. Anthropic is free to use multiple cloud providers and does, and we don't demand exclusive tech rights."
An official from Anthropic had also previously indicated the company's intent to engage fully with the CMA to present a comprehensive view of their collaboration with Alphabet.
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Another significant player, Amazon, made a substantial $4 billion investment in Anthropic last year and bolstered its stake recently with an additional $2.75 billion.
This regulatory scrutiny comes as part of a broader action from the CMA, which, in April, initiated three separate investigations into partnerships between Microsoft, Amazon, and three different AI startups, including Anthropic.
In the previous month, both Microsoft and Inflection's partnership, as well as Amazon and Anthropic's collaboration, were given the green light by the watchdog, stating that they do not warrant further scrutiny over competition concerns.