Antitrust Regulators may learn Microsoft’s ties with OpenAI.

Computerworld.com reported that “The US, the UK, and the EU are all looking into Microsoft’s connections to ChatGPT creator OpenAI.” The January 23, 2024 report entitled " Regulators probe Microsoft’s OpenAI ties — is it only smoke, or is there fire?”  (https://www.computerworld.com/article/3712002/regulators-probe-microsofts-openai-ties-is-it-only-smoke-or-is-there-fire.html) included these comments:

 …Microsoft faces several potential antitrust probes around the world that could be far more consequential; regulators want to know more about the company’s close relationship with OpenAI, the creator of ChatGPT. If they end up going forward, Microsoft’s lead in generative AI (genAI) could be in danger, with consequences potentially as severe as those the company faced a quarter century ago.

Microsoft first began investing in OpenAI in 2019 and poured an additional $10 billion into the company a year ago. So why nearly a year after that big spend did the FTC finally set its sights on the relationship between the two companies?

What did it was the bizarre soap opera of OpenAI’s board firing OpenAI CEO Sam Altman for reasons that remain unclear, and then hiring him back four days later. Microsoft and Altman have always marched in lockstep, and the company wanted him back in power after he was fired. As OpenAI’s biggest investor, Microsoft played an almost bullying, behind-the-scenes role in forcing the board to reinstate Altman.

Interesting! What do you think?