Microsoft Corp‘s (NYSE:MSFT) multi-billion dollar investment in artificial intelligence (AI) developer OpenAI is coming under further scrutiny after the European Commission (EC), the EU’s competition authority, said it was “checking” the relationship between the two companies.
Although not an official investigation into the two companies, the EC said in a statement on Tuesday that it was “checking whether Microsoft’s investment in OpenAI might be reviewable under the EU Merger Regulation.”
U.K. Competition Watchdog Already Investigating
This comes a month after Britain’s Competition and Markets Authority (CMA), said it was reviewing whether the $13 billion partnership had resulted in an “acquisition of control.”
The CMA’s announcement was prompted by concerns that the turmoil within OpenAI, which resulted in the board firing and then re-hiring CEO Sam Altman in November, had resulted in a power shift that favored Microsoft.
Certainly, some ...