WASHINGTON, D.C. — Today, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) announced a new inquiry into Big Tech investments and partnerships in AI. In response to the news, Demand Progress Education Fund Corporate Power Director Emily Peterson-Cassin issued the following statement:
“We applaud the FTC for launching an inquiry into five companies requiring them to provide information regarding recent investments and partnerships involving generative AI companies and major cloud service providers. Along with 20+ partner organizations, we sent two letters-on November 17, 2023 and December 20, 2023-calling for investigations into Big Tech’s recent forays into AI and any appropriate action to enforce our antitrust laws.
“Big Tech companies are using their dominance to insert themselves into AI companies and take advantage of AI being the technology of the moment. Some of the biggest tech corporations have promised to invest billions in AI, and have taken seats on the AI boards, without actually making an overt attempt to buy them outright. We are glad to see the FTC investigating these relationships because they have the potential to be just as harmful to competition as mergers, but they do not trigger the same, near automatic scrutiny that mergers often do. These tech giants cannot just pull the wool over our eyes by pretending these actions don’t hurt competition. Regulators are noticing, and are taking much needed, appropriate action.”