Olufemi Adeyemi
The UK competition regulator announced on Friday that it will not conduct a deeper investigation into Amazon's collaboration with the startup Anthropic, as it does not present any competition issues.In August, the UK’s competition authority had initiated a merger inquiry regarding Amazon's partnership with the AI company Anthropic.
Amazon has committed an investment of four billion US dollars (£3.1 billion) to the US-based AI firm.
The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) stated that it possesses “sufficient information” to commence an initial review of the partnership to determine if a more comprehensive investigation is warranted.
This decision is part of a broader trend by the regulator to scrutinize the close relationships between major technology companies and emerging AI enterprises.
In April, the CMA released a report expressing concerns about potential threats to open, fair, and effective competition within the AI sector.
The report specifically pointed out an “interconnected web” of over 90 partnerships and strategic investments involving leading tech firms—such as Alphabet, Amazon, Apple, and Microsoft—and emerging AI companies, warning that this could lead to the concentration of power and resources among a select few entities in the industry.
Both Amazon and Alphabet have made significant investments in Anthropic, while Microsoft holds the largest stake in OpenAI, the creator of ChatGPT.
Additionally, OpenAI has partnered with Apple to integrate ChatGPT into future iPhone models as part of Apple's strategy to incorporate more generative AI capabilities into its offerings.