Regulators' increasing scrutiny of tech giants' investments in AI companies leaves Microsoft and Apple off OpenAI's board of directors out of an abundance of caution. The first was part of it as an observer party after investing 13,000 million dollars, a role that was also expected for the second after an integration agreement and that ultimately will not be carried out.

Already in January, the US Federal Trade Commission (FTC) sent letters to Amazon, Microsoft and Google, as the main providers of cloud services worldwide, and also to OpenAI and Anthropic. In them, he asked the former for more information about their investment in the latter and the possible impact of that relationship on competition.

Therefore, from that moment on, Microsoft was forced to explain its link with OpenAI, while both Amazon and Google had to give more details about their interests in Anthropic. All of them would have 45 days to respond to the agency about the terms of their agreements and how they influence product launches, as well as whether there is competition for resources to develop artificial intelligence capabilities.

In this context, it should be noted that on those same dates the Secretary of Commerce, Gina Raimondo, announced that the Government would use defense legislation dating back to 1950 to force operators of this technology to report their projects.

 The first was part of the body as an observer and the second could request entry after the recent integration agreement.

Apple does not appear in principle in that shortlist of companies to watch, but its agreement with OpenAI announced in June to integrate ChatGPT into its operating systems, its assistant Siri or its tools for creating content anticipated a possible entry into its board of directors. However, it has preferred to avoid that commitment, which could further complicate its situation before European regulators.

In that region, the company has therefore decided to postpone the launch of artificial intelligence functionalities until 2025 to clarify its fit with the regulatory framework. An investigation is already underway by the European Commission for possible anti-competitive practices.

https://dircomfidencial.com/marketing-digital/microsoft-y-apple-se-retiran-de-la-junta-directiva-de-openai-para-sortear-la-presion-regulatoria-20240711-1033/