LONDON (AP) — British regulators on Tuesday launched a preliminary investigation into Microsoft’s hiring of key staff from an AI startup, citing concerns it could stifle competition in the fast-growing market for artificial intelligence.
The Competition and Markets Authority said it had looked into Inflexion AI’s hiring practices, including its co-founder and CEO Mustafa Suleiman, and had found enough information to open an investigation.
Microsoft hired Mr. Suleiman earlier this year to head its consumer artificial intelligence business, bringing with it several top engineers and researchers. Before founding Inflection, Mr. Suleiman co-founded DeepMind, an AI research lab now owned by Google, and is considered an influential figure in the AI world.
The watchdog suggested it was assessing whether the hire would result in a “substantial lessening of competition” in the UK AI market and amount to a merger that breaches UK antitrust law.
“We believe that recruiting talented people promotes competition and should not be treated as a merger,” Microsoft said in a statement. “We will provide the UK Competition and Markets Authority with the information it needs to quickly complete its investigation.”
Britain’s regulator has until Sept. 11 to decide whether to grant approval or escalate the investigation to a full probe. Regulators have the power to undo the deal or impose corrective measures to address competition concerns.
Officials on both sides of the Atlantic have become concerned that big tech companies are buying up the talent and products of innovative AI startups without formally acquiring them.
Three U.S. senators wrote antitrust officials at the Department of Justice and the Federal Trade Commission last week urging them to investigate Amazon’s acquisition of San Francisco-based Adept, which will transfer Adept’s CEO and key employees to Amazon and license Adept’s AI systems and datasets to the e-commerce giant.
