UK watchdog drops competition review of Microsoft's OpenAI partnership

The UK's competition watchdog will not hold a formal investigation into Microsoft's partnership with the startup behind the artificial intelligence chatbot ChatGPT, stating that while the 2.9tn ( 2.3tn) tech company has "material influence" over OpenAI it does not control it. The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) said Microsoft, OpenAI's biggest financial backer with a 13bn investment, acquired material influence over the San Francisco-based business in 2019 but did not exercise de facto control over it – and therefore did not meet the threshold for an official inquiry. The decision follows expressions of disquiet over the appointment of the former boss of Amazon UK, Doug Gurr, as the CMA's interim chair. The organisation's chief executive, Sarah Cardell, has also said the CMA does not want to create a "chilling effect" on business confidence, amid pressure from the UK government on regulators to produce pro-growth proposals. The CMA's executive director for mergers, Joel Bamford, said: "We have found that there has not been a change of control by Microsoft from material influence to de facto control over OpenAI. Because this change of control has not happened, the partnership in its current form does not qualify for review under the UK's merger control regime."