The UK is now looking at Alphabet's investment in Anthropic

OpenAI is known as the trust fund kid of the AI world, receiving a whopping $13 billion from Microsoft to get up and going. Well, it’s not the only AI startup getting cash from larger companies. Anthropic, the maker of Claude, also received some massive investments from benefactors. Well, the UK is looking into Alphabet and its large investment in Anthropic.

Major companies were a bit too hasty when investing in AI startups. Soon after ChatGPT launched, Microsoft signed a massive $10 billion check for the company, and this was after an initial $1 billion a few years prior. While this is extremely helpful, it could be a bit of a red flag for regulators from different countries.

Microsoft is on thin ice about that massive investment in OpenAI, as some regulators are probing that team to see if it violates fair competition.

The UK is looking into the massive investment that Alphabet made in Anthropic

$13 billion is huge, but we shouldn’t overlook the smaller investments. Alphabet, the company that owns Google, invested a total of $2.3 billion in Anthropic. This wasn’t all at once, though. Last year, Alphabet invested $300 million into Anthropic and then added on $2 billion that same year.

The question is whether that generous investment gives the California-based startup an unfair edge over other companies. Most other companies would kill for $2 billion to get off the ground. The UK’s Competition and Market Authority (CMA) is now looking into this investment to answer that question.

While both Alphabet and Anthropic are based in the U.S., their products still have an effect on what happens to UK citizens. So, its 2¢ have weight. The CMA is taking a two-stage approach. Firstly, it’s going to determine whether there’s enough evidence to put Alphabet in the hot seat. After that, the second stage will involve the government scooping up as much evidence as possible before making a decision. The second stage is actually optional.

We don’t know what will happen if the UK does find Alphabet in violation of competition law. We’re sure that there will be a fine. What we do know is that the UK will make its final decision by December 19th. That’s just under two months away. So, we will know what will happen by then. We’re sure that Alphabet doesn’t want a hefty fine as an early Christmas present.