Jonathan Cantor, the Justice Department’s antitrust director, said he was considering possible enforcement actions against large artificial intelligence companies to ensure fair competition in the tech sector.
The Department of Justice is actively investigating “monopoly bottlenecks and the competitive landscape” in AI. Kanter told the Financial Times:.
Authorities have expressed concern that tech giants such as Microsoft, OpenAI, Google, Amazon and chipmaker Nvidia are using their deep pockets to exert outsized influence over the fast-growing industry.
Cantor said the Justice Department’s antitrust authorities need to act “urgently” to stop companies from monopolizing the AI market.
“Sometimes the most meaningful interventions are when they’re done in real time,” Kanter told the outlet. “The advantage is that it’s less invasive.”
The Department of Justice has already filed antitrust lawsuits against Google and Apple, but those cases don’t directly relate to the rise of AI. Separately, the Federal Trade Commission has filed lawsuits against Meta and Amazon.
The FTC is also investigating Microsoft’s $13 billion investment in OpenAI, as well as Google and Amazon’s investment in fast-growing AI company Anthropic.
Areas that may reportedly come under new scrutiny include the use of data to train large-scale language models like those that power ChatGPT, cloud computing, scarce computer chips and even the impact on jobs.
Kanter noted that advanced computer chips needed for generative AI, such as the ones made by Nvidia, are becoming a “scarce resource,” and his team will investigate how chipmakers decide which companies to supply with their critical products.
“One of the things to really think about is conflict of interest. You’re weighing the balance between helping your competitors and being afraid to help your customers,” Kanter said.
Nvidia’s shares have soared more than 150% this year, and the chipmaker overtook Apple on Wednesday to become the world’s second-most valuable company after Microsoft.
Cantor added that potential regulatory issues arise “when companies make decisions that focus on competitive outcomes rather than on maximizing profits and creating shareholder value.”
The Justice Department is also expected to look into so-called “hire by acquisition,” in which companies make large hires from specific startups rather than buying them outright and risking antitrust scrutiny.
Separately, The Wall Street Journal The FTC is reportedly investigating Microsoft’s move to hire a large number of people from AI startup Inflection.
Authorities are said to be investigating how and why Microsoft negotiated a deal that included paying Inflexion about $650 million in licensing fees for the right to resell the technology.
Microsoft President Brad Smith defended the deal in a statement to the Financial Times.
“We didn’t want to own a company,” Smith said, “we wanted to employ some of the people who work for the company.”
Google, meanwhile, is facing increased scrutiny over its integration of AI features into its core search engine.
Critics, including the News Media Alliance, a nonprofit group that represents hundreds of news publishers including The Washington Post, have warned that the AI could sap traffic to competitors and have called on the Justice Department and FTC to scrutinize the use of AI.
