United Kingdom: Opened consultation on partnerships between Microsoft and Mistral AI, and Amazon and Anthropic, and Microsoft’s hiring of former employees and related arrangements with Inflection AI

On 24 April 2024, the UK Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) opened a public consultation on the partnerships between Microsoft and Mistral AI, and Amazon and Anthropic, and Microsoft’s hiring of former employees and related arrangements with Inflection AI until 9 May 2024. In particular, the CMA seeks views on whether the partnerships and other arrangements may result in the creation of relevant merger situations and the potential impact of these deals on competition in the UK. The consultation follows the report published by the CMA on 11 April 2024 on competition in the markets for AI Foundation Models, specifically, concerns that partnerships involving key players could exacerbate existing market power positions through the Foundation Models' value chain.