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[winjer]

https://www.reuters.com/technology/us-regulators-open-antitrust-inquiries-microsoft-openai-nvidia-nyt-reports-2024-06-06/

The U.S. Justice Department and the Federal Trade Commission have reached a deal that clears the way for potential antitrust investigations into the dominant roles that Microsoft (MSFT.O), opens new tab, OpenAI and Nvidia (NVDA.O), opens new tab play in the artificial intelligence industry, according to a source familiar with the matter.
The agreement between the two agencies shows regulatory scrutiny is gathering steam amid concerns over concentration in the industries that make up AI. Microsoft and Nvidia not only dominate their industries but are two of the world's biggest companies by market capitalization since Nvidia's market value recently surpassed $3 trillion.
U.S. antitrust enforcers have publicly expressed a range of concerns around AI, from the advantage that Big Tech companies have in their access to data used to train AI models, to how generative AI affects the market for creative work, to partnerships between companies potentially being used to sidestep required merger review processes.
The move to divvy up the industry mirrors a similar agreement between the two agencies in 2019 to divide enforcement against Big Tech, which ultimately saw the FTC bring cases against Meta (META.O), opens new tab and Amazon (AMZN.O), opens new tab, and the DOJ sue Apple (AAPL.O), opens new tab and Google (GOOGL.O), opens new tab for alleged violations. Those cases are ongoing and the companies have denied wrongdoing.
While OpenAI's parent is a nonprofit, Microsoft has invested $13 billion in a for-profit subsidiary, for what would be a 49% stake.
The Justice Department will take the lead in investigating whether Nvidia violated antitrust laws, while the FTC will examine the conduct of OpenAI and Microsoft.
The regulators struck the deal over the past week, and it is expected to be completed in the coming days, the person said.
Nvidia has roughly 80% of the AI chip market, including the custom AI processors made by the cloud computing companies like Google, Microsoft and Amazon.com. That domination helps the company report gross margins between 70% and 80%.

The agreement between the two regulators comes after the FTC in January ordered OpenAI, Microsoft, Alphabet, Amazon and Anthropic to provide information on recent investments and partnerships involving generative AI companies and cloud service providers.
In July last year, the FTC opened an investigation into OpenAI on claims it had run afoul of consumer protection laws by putting personal reputations and data at risk.
Last week, Justice Department antitrust chief Jonathan Kanter, opens new tab said at an AI conference at Stanford University that there are "structures and trends in AI that should give us pause," adding that the technology relies on massive amounts of data and computing power, which can give already dominant firms a substantial advantage.
The DOJ and FTC, led by Chair Lina Khan, share jurisdiction to enforce federal competition law but avoid duplicative investigations.
Bill Baer, who led antitrust efforts at the agencies during the Obama and Clinton administrations, said that typically each agency will take the lead in areas where it has amassed expertise. But occasionally the heads of the two agencies will sit down and iron out who does what, said Baer, a visiting fellow at the Brookings Institution.

The FTC is also looking into Microsoft's $650 million deal with AI startup Inflection AI, over concerns as to whether the deal was a play to skirt merger disclosure requirements, the person said.
The unusual deal reached in March allowed Microsoft to use Inflection's models and hire most of the startup's staff, including its co-founders.
Microsoft said in a statement on Monday that the agreement with Inflection helped it accelerate work on Microsoft Copilot, while still allowing Inflection "to continue pursuing its independent business and ambition as an AI studio."

This might shake up the entire market for AI.
I bet a lot of companies are eager to get piece of this AI pie.

 

[DeepEnigma]

"Open your back door and let us in."

 

[willothedog]

Lina

At it again.....

 

[Cyberpunkd]

"Open your back door and let us in."

Companies are not always right, you know? In fact in vast majority of cases the interests of companies and users do not go together.

 

[a multicultural team of v]

Companies are not always right, you know? In fact in vast majority of cases the interests of companies and users do not go together.

Fortunately the government is always right and the interests of government and it's citizens are always perfectly aligned.

 

[Cyberpunkd]

Fortunately the government is always right and the interests of government and it's citizens are always perfectly aligned.

It’s not 0/1 situation. However I can point to the fact that US has way more economic inequality than other countries with more social policies.

 

[DeepEnigma]

Companies are not always right, you know? In fact in vast majority of cases the interests of companies and users do not go together.

I never said they were. Both my statement and them overstepping, which I completely think big-tech and select corporations have too much power now and were allowed to go unfettered beyond checks and balances; can exist at the same time. It's all bureaucracy, you see.

Look how the "anti-trust" worked out for MS in the end. Largest company in the world with a monopoly on an OS and government contracts down to Prism to boot.

 

[a multicultural team of v]

It’s not 0/1 situation. However I can point to the fact that US has way more economic inequality than other countries with more social policies.

The US also has multiple companies that are singularly worth more than the entire stock market of a country like Germany, and are by far the leaders in AI and pretty much every other emerging technology and industry that will power the world going forward.

I'll take the inequality.

 

[Cyberpunkd]

The US also has multiple companies that are singularly worth more than the entire stock market of a country like Germany, and are by far the leaders in AI and pretty much every other emerging technology and industry that will power the world going forward.

I'll take the inequality.

Are you “an embarrassed millionaire” by any chance?

 

[a multicultural team of v]

Are you “an embarrassed millionaire” by any chance?

I don't even know what this is but based on two seconds of googling it sounds like something to do with poor people not acting like how someone on the left expects them to, which I'm not surprised about because they completely misunderstand society and how wealth is created.