The partnership between Microsoft and OpenAI will be further investigated by antitrust authorities. Microsoft is the AI company’s largest investor, with a 49 percent stake. By keeping the percentage just below 50 percent, Microsoft hoped to avoid such investigations.
Microsoft has long managed to keep its partnership with OpenAI out of antitrust investigations. It is now failing to do so because Microsoft is joining OpenAI’s board of directors. Investigations in the United Kingdom and in the United States are already following. “There have been a number of recent developments on the board of OpenAI, some of which involved Microsoft,” the U.K. authority explained.
Double bad luck
It can be argued that Microsoft is doubly unlucky with its role on the OpenAI board. The company helped Sam Altman when he was temporarily removed from OpenAI, but was later thanked for this with only an observational role within the board. This seems to leave the tech giant’s hands tied if sweeping changes at OpenAI threaten again.
Now, the Windows builder’s small role also appears to be enough to attract the attention of antitrust authorities. What the investigations mean for Microsoft’s attitude toward its partner is not clear. For now, it is an exploratory investigation to determine whether official investigations are necessary, knows Bloomberg. European institutions say they are monitoring the situation but do not act right away.
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