UK clears $4 bn AI partnership between Amazon, Anthropic
LONDON — Britain’s competition regulator on Friday cleared Amazon’s investment of up to $4 billion in Anthropic, an American developer of artificial intelligence, following a short probe.
The Competition and Markets Authority examined the investment by the US e-commerce giant amid concerns among global antitrust watchdogs regarding tie-ups between AI firms and big tech companies.
Anthropic is developing a rival to ChatGPT-style AI chatbot.
The British regulator had probed whether the partnership caused “a substantial lessening of competition within any market or markets in the United Kingdom for goods or services”.
However, it announced Friday that it did not believe that “a relevant merger situation has been created.”
This was owing to the fact that Anthropic’s UK turnover did not exceed £70 million ($94 million), nor do both parties “together account for a 25-percent or more share of supply of any description of goods or services in the UK”.
Amazon said it welcomed the decision, adding that “by investing in Anthropic, we’re helping to spur entry and competition in generative AI.”
