The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) has announced it is seeking views ahead of an examination into recent artificial intelligence (AI) deals by Microsoft and Amazon.

In recent years, Big Tech companies have been investing heavily in generative AI start-ups. Such partnerships and arrangements in the AI market have become a concern for the UK’s competition watchdog, the CMA.

The regulator has now invited “interested third parties” to comment on whether recent partnerships and arrangements concerning Microsoft and Amazon fall within UK merger rules and the impact these deals could have on competition in the UK.

This includes Microsoft’s partnership with French start-up Mistral AI, which was founded in April 2023 by previous employees of Meta Platforms and Google DeepMind.

Additionally, Microsoft has hired a significant amount of former employees from California start-up Inflection AI.

The CMA’s concerns with Amazon lies in its $4bn investment in Anthropic, a start-up founded by former...