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    Microsoft’s OpenAI investment could trigger EU merger review

    By SHOOTUpdated:No Comments834 Views
    OpenAI CEO Sam Altman, left, appears onstage with Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella at OpenAI's first developer conference, on Nov. 6, 2023, in San Francisco. The European Union says Microsoft’s multibillion-dollar investment in ChatGPT-maker OpenAI could trigger a merger investigation. The EU's executive branch said Tuesday, JAN. 9, 2024, it’s “checking whether Microsoft’s investment in OpenAI might be reviewable” under regulations covering mergers and acquisitions that would harm competition in the 27-nation bloc. (AP Photo/Barbara Ortutay, File)
    LONDON (AP) --

    Microsoft's multibillion-dollar investment in ChatGPT-maker OpenAI could trigger a European Union merger investigation, the bloc's executive branch said Tuesday.

    The European Commission said it's "checking whether Microsoft's investment in OpenAI might be reviewable" under regulations covering mergers and acquisitions that would harm competition in the 27-nation EU.

    The review could lead to a formal investigation into whether the deal should be unconditionally cleared, allowed with concessions from the companies or blocked. Britain's antitrust watchdog opened a similar review last month.

    Antitrust enforcers in the U.S. also have signaled concerns about competition in the AI industry. The Federal Trade Commission in November approved new measures enabling it to more easily investigate AI products and services, noting that "AI can raise competition issues in a variety of ways, including if one or just a few companies control the essential inputs or technologies that underpin AI."

    OpenAI has received several rounds of funding from Microsoft, including an initial $1 billion in 2019 and a multibillion-dollar investment last year.

    OpenAI's generative AI chatbot ChatGPT has captured world attention with its advanced capabilities, catapulting the San Francisco-based startup to the top ranks of AI companies. Generative AI systems like ChatGPT can spit out new text, images, videos or audio recordings based on prompts from users.

    The European Commission, the bloc's top antitrust enforcer, is asking businesses and experts for input on any competition issues that they see in generative AI and has asked "several large digital players" — which it didn't identify — for information.

    The commission is "also closely monitoring AI partnerships to ensure they do not unduly distort market dynamics," the EU's antitrust enforcer, Margrethe Vestager, said in a press release.

    Vestager is due to meet with OpenAI executives on a trip this week to the U.S., as well as Google CEO Sundar Pichai, Apple CEO Tim Cook and Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang.

    Tags:European UnionMicrosoftOpenAI



    Ex-OpenAI engineer who raised legal concerns about the technology he helped build has died

    Saturday, December 21, 2024
    Suchir Balaji poses for a photo in Hawaii in 2018. Balaji was a former OpenAI engineer and whistleblower who died in November 2024. (Balaji Ramamurthy via AP)

    Suchir Balaji, a former OpenAI engineer and whistleblower who helped train the artificial intelligence systems behind ChatGPT and later said he believed those practices violated copyright law, has died, according to his parents and San Francisco officials. He was 26.

    Balaji worked at OpenAI for nearly four years before quitting in August. He was well-regarded by colleagues at the San Francisco company, where a co-founder this week called him one of OpenAI's strongest contributors who was essential to developing some of its products.

    "We are devastated to learn of this incredibly sad news and our hearts go out to Suchir's loved ones during this difficult time," said a statement from OpenAI.

    Balaji was found dead in his San Francisco apartment on Nov. 26 in what police said "appeared to be a suicide. No evidence of foul play was found during the initial investigation." The city's chief medical examiner's office confirmed the manner of death to be suicide.

    His parents Poornima Ramarao and Balaji Ramamurthy said they are still seeking answers, describing their son as a "happy, smart and brave young man" who loved to hike and recently returned from a trip with friends.

    Balaji grew up in the San Francisco Bay Area and first arrived at the fledgling AI research lab for a 2018 summer internship while studying computer science at the University of California, Berkeley. He returned a few years later to work at OpenAI, where one of his first projects, called WebGPT, helped pave the way for ChatGPT.

    "Suchir's contributions to this project were essential, and it wouldn't have succeeded without him," said OpenAI co-founder John Schulman in a social media post memorializing Balaji. Schulman, who recruited Balaji to his team, said what... Read More

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