Regulators in the US are taking issue with Microsoft’s (MSFT) $13 billion investment in OpenAI. The Federal Trade Commission has raised concerns that the massive investment has the potential to enhance the software giant’s dominance in cloud computing into artificial intelligence. According to the regulator, the investment has the risk of consolidating AI talent around large firms.
FTC vs. Tech Giants
Microsoft is not the only tech giant targeted over AI investments. The FTC has also taken issue with Amazon (AMZN) and Google’s (GOOGL) investments and partnership with Anthropic, another rising AI startup. Tech giants investing in AI startups raise the risk of AI developers being acquired. Likewise, regulators are worried that such a move would amount to antitrust violations as tech giants would have control of emerging technology.
The FTC is concerned that collaborations between tech giants and AI startups may lead to dominant tech businesses controlling exclusive rights to the tools of their AI partners. Additionally, it may deter AI companies from collaborating with other tech companies by making switching more expensive for the AI developer partners.
Since ChatGPT sparked the generative AI craze more than two years ago, top AI startups have looked to big tech companies for assistance in creating expensive and computationally demanding technology. The FTC expressed concerns about the cloud giants’ requirement that a portion of the money they spend in these companies be used for their goods and services.
The FTC added that there are dangers associated with concentrating sought-after AI talent around these big businesses and the possibility that the corporations could obtain valuable information about chip development, model training, and data center architecture.
Musk Against OpenAI IPO
Meanwhile, Tesla CEO Elon Musk has filed a lawsuit in an attempt to stop OpenAI from going public. He cites legal theories to back up his assertion that Microsoft and OpenAI engaged in anticompetitive behavior.
Musk claims that OpenAI broke antitrust rules by requiring investors to refrain from funding other AI companies and by sharing board members with Microsoft, another defendant in the case. OpenAI has refuted the claims, insisting that Microsoft board member Reid Hoffman, who served on OpenAI’s board, and Microsoft executive Deannah Templeton, who had an observer position, are no longer associated with the company, making the board member accusations meaningless.
AI In BankingÂ
Meanwhile, Investment banks could use AI to reduce repetitive tasks like writing financial documents, according to Goldman (GS) CEO David Solomon. It used to take weeks for bankers to draft documents that would be filed with the public. However, Solomon stated at the Cisco AI Summit in Palo Alto that AI can finish 95% of an S1 filing, the form a business submits to the Securities and Exchange Commission when it goes public in a matter of minutes.
Solomon’s sentiments are consistent with his earlier assertions that Goldman’s focus on AI was partly on its potential to increase worker productivity. AI-powered productivity can take intelligent people and provide them with the means to accomplish more, do it faster, and help clients think differently about things. Goldman Sachs has been shifting the composition of its employees over the last few years to become more tech-focused.
