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EU Merger Regulations may lead to a review of the working relationship between the two companies.
The European Commission has released a call for contribution regarding competition when it comes to generative artificial intelligence and the management of virtual worlds.
As a part of the call, the commission is also investigating whether or not recent investments by Microsoft in OpenAI – the company behind ChatGPT – may need to be reviewed under the EU’s merger regulations.
“Virtual worlds and generative AI are rapidly developing,” said Margrethe Vestager, executive vice-president in charge of competition policy with the commission. “It is fundamental that these new markets stay competitive and that nothing stands in the way of businesses growing and providing the best and most innovative products to consumers. We are inviting businesses and experts to tell us about any competition issues that they may perceive in these industries, whilst also closely monitoring AI partnerships to ensure they do not unduly distort market dynamics.”
Microsoft’s investment in OpenAI has taken place in three phases since 2019 and currently totals about US$13 billion. OpenAI’s technology is now baked into a number of Microsoft offerings, including Office and its Bing search engine, while Microsoft Azure is OpenAI’s only cloud provider.
The issue at hand is the disruptive nature of the technologies – both generative AI and metaverse worlds are already changing a number of industries. Keeping the EU’s single market open and competitive is the key driver behind the call for discussion, especially given the rate of investment in both areas.
“Venture capital investment in AI in the EU is estimated at more than €7.2 billion in 2023,” the commission said in a statement. “The size of the virtual worlds market in Europe is estimated to have reached more than €11 billion in 2023. Both technologies are expected to grow exponentially in the next few years and are likely to have a major impact on how businesses compete.”
“Effective enforcement of EU competition rules is essential to maintain competition in the EU’s single market, which is Europe’s best asset in terms of creating jobs and economic growth. These calls for contributions follow other calls carried out in recent years regarding the application of EU competition rules in various contexts.”
You can find more information on the call here.
David Hollingworth has been writing about technology for over 20 years, and has worked for a range of print and online titles in his career. He is enjoying getting to grips with cyber security, especially when it lets him talk about Lego.
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