British antitrust regulator approves Google's (GOOGL.US) partnership with Anthropic
1min read The UK's Competition and Markets Authority said on Tuesday that Google's collaboration with artificial intelligence company Anthropic did not meet the requirements for a full investigation under merger rules, allowing the deal to avoid further scrutiny. The regulator said Google did not have a "material effect" on Anthropic, which it began to consider carefully after Alphabet's Google committed to invest $2bn in the startup last year. The companies had also signed a key cloud business deal before the financing.
The CMA has been at the forefront of global regulators to ensure that tech giants' big bets on the AI industry do not distort markets or lead to the creation of a few all-powerful companies. The agency has expressed concerns about the "interconnected network" of partnerships and investments in the AI space.
While Amazon's $4bn investment in Anthropic was approved in September, Microsoft's investment in OpenAI is still under review at the CMA. The agency also approved Microsoft's acquisition of Mistral and Inflection after a relatively quick investigation.
The decision will give the company breathing room as it faces a string of antitrust cases in the US and Europe, including one that could force Google to sell its Chrome browser. The US Federal Trade Commission and the European Commission are also investigating various partnerships.
Google did not immediately respond to a request for comment after the statement was released. The company previously said that Anthropic could use multiple cloud providers for free and did not require exclusive technology rights.