Today, the Federal Trade Commission announced an inquiry, called a 6(b) study, into generative artificial intelligence investments and partnerships with major cloud service providers. The agency will review these corporate arrangements with AI providers to “build a better internal understanding of these relationships and their impact on the competitive landscape.”
The FTC sent compulsory information requests to Alphabet, Amazon, Anthropic, Microsoft, and OpenAI, the maker of chatGPT. Public Knowledge applauds this FTC action to investigate potential competitive concerns where Big Tech and AI meet and looks forward to reviewing the results of the study.
The following can be attributed to Elise Phillips, Policy Counsel at Public Knowledge:
“We are pleased to see the FTC conducting this investigation into partnerships between generative AI and cloud service providers. Incumbents with large troves of user data, together with their ownership of key cloud computing infrastructure, raise questions on whether the market is poised for healthy competition. This critical study will inform the public and provide the agency with valuable information to consider future action. We are hopeful that the FTC shining a light on these AI partnerships will lead to a more competitive digital marketplace and strong regulatory oversight of AI markets.”
Members of the media may contact Communications Director Shiva Stella with inquiries, interview requests, or to join the Public Knowledge press list at shiva@publicknowledge.org or 405-249-9435.