The UK’s competition regulator is investigating Alphabet’s investment in AI startup Anthropic after opening public comments this summer. The Competition and Market Authority (CMA) stated it has “sufficient information” to begin an initial investigation into whether Alphabet’s reported $2.3 billion investment in the Claude AI chatbot maker harms competition in UK markets. The probe will officially start on Friday and by December 19, the CMA will decide whether to proceed to a phase 2 investigation. Alphabet reportedly invested $300 million in Anthropic in early 2023, followed by an additional $2 billion later that year, which could be classified as a “quasi-merger”. Amazon has invested even more in Anthropic, with $4 billion, leading to an antitrust investigation. The CMA declined to look into Amazon’s investment last month due to current rules, while Alphabet’s investment raises concerns related to competing large language models provided to small businesses and enterprise customers, potentially prompting a deeper investigation.
