FTC launches inquiry into artificial intelligence deals such as Microsoft’s OpenAI partnership

By MATT O’BRIEN
AP Technology Writer

U.S. antitrust enforcers are opening an investigation into the relationships between leading artificial intelligence startups such as ChatGPT-maker OpenAI and Anthropic and the tech giants that have invested billions of dollars into them. Lina Khan, chair of the U.S. Federal Trade Commission, in opening remarks at a Thursday AI forum, said the agency is “scrutinizing whether these ties enable dominant firms to exert undue influence or gain privileged access in ways that could undermine fair competition.” Khan didn’t name any specific companies but said the market inquiry would review “the investments and partnerships being formed between AI developers and major cloud service providers.”