The UK Competition and Markets Authority (CMA), a commission of the European Union (EU), and the US Federal Trade Commission (FTC) have been monitoring the market for generative artificial intelligence (AI) for several months. On May 17, the CMA formally investigated Microsoft's hiring of former Inflection AI employees and its connection to this leading AI company.
The CMA, which has been investigating the case since April, stated that it has sufficient information about Microsoft's recruitment of certain Inflection AI employees and the associated arrangements to "allow an investigation to commence."" This initial investigation will determine whether a more in-depth investigation is required.
Mustafa Suleyman, co-founder of DeepMind, the AI company acquired by Google, announced in March that he was leaving his position as CEO of Inflection AI, a startup he co-founded, to join Microsoft. It was later confirmed after this announcement that other employees, including fellow co-founder Karen Simonyan, had decided to join his new team at Microsoft.
Microsoft's different hires "are "not a merger, but a promotion of competition," the company assured AFP after the investigation became public.
"We will provide the CMA with the information it needs for its investigation as soon as possible," said the spokesperson.
For months, the CMA has been investigating large companies and AI startups for their cooperation agreements, such as the one between Microsoft and the French company Mistral AI, Amazon and Anthropic, and the agreement between Microsoft and Inflection AI.
In May, for example, the UK regulator gave the green light to the tie-up between Microsoft and Mistral AI, as it considered that the US giant did not have enough influence for the collaboration to be considered a merger.
