The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) is currently investigating Microsoft’s recent efforts to strengthen its artificial intelligence (AI) strategy. In March, Microsoft’s CEO, Satya Nadella, announced the hiring of Inflection AI’s co-founders Mustafa Suleyman and Karén Simonyan, with Simonyan serving as the startup’s chief scientist. Nadella praised Simonyan as a respected AI researcher responsible for breakthroughs like AlphaZero developed by DeepMind. Microsoft also provided Inflection AI with a $625m funding boost for their AI model, which will be hosted on Microsoft Azure cloud.
The CMA has initiated an investigation into these hirings and the relationship between Microsoft and Inflection, expected to conclude on 11 September. This is part of the CMA’s broader examination of tech giants’ influence in the UK’s AI sector. Meanwhile, the CMA’s executive director of mergers, Joel Bamford, emphasized the importance of fair competition in the foundation model markets to maximize the benefits of technological advancements in various UK sectors.
This investigation sheds light on Microsoft’s dedication to recruiting top AI talent as it shifts towards becoming an AI-focused organization. Microsoft’s previous investment in OpenAI in 2023 provided access to the company’s AI models, hosted on Microsoft Azure cloud. While the deal with Inflection AI is not exclusive, Inflection plans to offer an API for Azure developers, a detail likely to be scrutinized by the CMA in their investigation of Microsoft.