The Federal Trade Commission voted unanimously Thursday to open an investigation into the deals forged by tech giants and swiftly growing generative AI companies, including Microsoft, OpenAI, Amazon, Alphabet and Anthropic PBC.
The investigation will look at the competitive impact these deals have had on the emerging market.
The regulatory agency announced that it had sent compulsory orders to the five companies, seeking more information about the $10 billion deal between Microsoft and OpenAI and the investments from Amazon and Alphabet into Anthropic, worth $4 billion and $2 billion respectively.
Regulators said they will scrutinize these for information about their partnership agreements and investments, and determine the competitive impact these deals will have on the market.
The investigation will look into whether the tech giants are “distorting innovation and undermining fair competition” in the generative AI market, FTC Chair Lina Khan said in a statement.
None of the companies named by the FTC have returned a request for comment from Forbes.