Regulators in the European Union (EU) have been following
Microsoft
’s acquisition of ChatGPT-maker OpenAI and hiring of AI startup
Inflection
’s employees. However, the EU regulators have noted they may act if other companies act similarly, making it a trend.
As per a report by news agency Reuters, EU antitrust chief
Margrethe Vestager
said that she was following developments related to the hirings in which Microsoft brought in co-founders
Mustafa Suleyman
and Karen Simonyan and most of Inflection's 70-people team for a newly-created unit called
Microsoft AI
.
“It is the kind of thing on which we keep an eye but as you say, since it is not a merger it is not caught by merger rules,” she was quoted as saying.
“We might (look into it) but we have no decisions, neither to do something or not do something. We have registered that this is happening and also registering that it's happening in a way so that it escapes our scrutiny from our usual boxes,” she added.
‘Concerns if other companies follow suit’
While the move triggered criticism from rivals because this talent and technology transfer meant Microsoft avoided the regulatory scrutiny that comes with a traditional acquisition,
Vestager
said that there may be concerns if other companies follow suit.
“Of course if things become a trend and if that trend seems to be something that circumvents what has been put in place to preserve competition, which is merger rules, of course that could be restored and eventually corrected,” Vestager added.
When Microsoft hired the staff, company CEO Satya Nadella wrote in an email to employees that he has “known Mustafa for several years and have greatly admired him as a founder of both DeepMind and Inflection, and as a visionary, product maker, and builder of pioneering teams that go after bold missions.”
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