The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) goes on with a broad antitrust probe to Microsoft’s AI operations. With advertised in the last days of the Biden -the administration, the Trump Administration’s new FTC chairman Andrew Ferguson will lead the probe. The FTC sent Microsoft a civilian investigative need late in last year and asked it to provide data about its AI models, including how training data is achieved and how much it costs to train an AI. The civilian investigation demand extends all the way back to 2016 and covers almost a decades of data.
Why FTC is investigating Microsoft
The agency will also investigate Microsoft to cancel some of its own internal AI development after agreeing to invest in competitor Openai. Microsoft did not reveal its investments in Openai to regulators in advance as it should have. The FTC will investigate whether the agreement was structured as a partnership to bypass a merger survey, which could have led the agreement to be blocked.
FTC also asked for further details about Microsoft’s data centers and the tech giant’s difficulties in getting enough computing power to meet the customer’s requirements. It also wants more information about how Microsoft Licenser Software Bundles – competitors have complained that bundles like Microsoft 365 make it difficult to compete against the software giant.
The FTC said it is looking to determine if Microsoft’s other companies give it an advantage over other AI companies and said it hopes to get a better grip on cloud computing costs through the data provided by Microsoft. These additional details and data will help determine whether to bring a case against Microsoft.
These studies can take years and often do not result in charges. Microsoft is likely to try to narrow the extent of the requested information and data, which is a common step during these studies.
FTC to pursue other cases against big tech businesses
This step indicates that the new FTC chairman Ferguson intends to continue to investigate tech giants -a commitment he confirmed in his first public comments in late February when he called to investigate the tech sector for his highest priority.
Microsoft is not the only tech company that is currently under FTC study. Ferguson inherited several cases from the Biden administration, including litigation against Amazon Inc. and Meta Inc. (which owns Facebook and Instagram).