UK antitrust body probes Google’s ties with AI rival Anthropic | TechCrunch

The U.K.’s antitrust regulator has revealed an early-stage probe into Google’s ties with Anthropic, after the Alphabet subsidiary invested in its U.S. AI rival over several rounds.

While it’s not at an official investigation stage yet, the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) is inviting stakeholders and other “interested parties” to comment ahead of a final decision on whether the partnership “has resulted in the creation of a relevant merger situation” and whether this will lead to a “substantial lessening of competition” in the U.K.

Founded out of San Francisco in 2021, Anthropic develops AI systems with a focus on safety, transparency, and risk-mitigation, setting itself up as a public benefit corporation (PBC) to set itself apart from its rivals. Anthropic develops large language models (LLMs) and an associated chatbot called Claude, which is comparable to something like OpenAI’s ChatGPT or Google’s Bard.

Anthropic has raised nearly $10 billion in funding since its inception, with Google first investing a reported $300 million early last year followed by another reported $2 billion. However, Anthropic has been courting all manner of big-name investors, including Amazon which plowed $4 billion into the fledgling AI startup.

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