Investigation into Nvidia, Microsoft, and OpenAI in the US for potential antitrust violations related to artificial intelligence

The US government is opening investigations to determine if OpenAI, Nvidia, and Microsoft are guilty of antitrust practices, as reported by The New York Times on Thursday. The Justice Department will lead investigations into semiconductor designer Nvidia, while the US Federal Trade Commission (FTC) will focus on OpenAI and Microsoft. When contacted by AFP, OpenAI, Nvidia, the Department of Justice, and the FTC declined to comment, and Microsoft did not immediately respond.

Since the launch of the ChatGPT interface in November 2022, a popular artificial intelligence system, there has been a race to gain dominance in this digital space. Developing this technology requires a significant investment in servers and processors to train AI programs, known as large language models (LLM), to respond to everyday language requests. Only a few tech giants have the capital to become serious generative AI players, with OpenAI in a strong position as the first to offer ChatGPT and Microsoft partnering with them to deploy the technology in consumer products. Nvidia, a key player in the semiconductor industry, is sought after for its graphic processing units (GPU) essential for generative AI development.

In early January, the FTC announced an investigation into the substantial investments made by Microsoft, Google, and Amazon in leading generative AI startups like OpenAI and Anthropic. This news has brought attention to the competitive nature of the AI industry and the potential antitrust concerns surrounding major players like OpenAI, Nvidia, and Microsoft.