The European Union is considering whether to launch a review of Microsoft's investment in ChatGPT maker OpenAI under the bloc's merger regulations, a month after the U.K. said it was also weighing whether the tech partnership could have an impact on competition. The European Commission, the EU's executive arm, made the disclosure on Tuesday as it sought input from interested parties on the level of competition in virtual worlds and generative artificial intelligence, and feedback on what competition law can do to keep these new markets competitive.

OpenAI's recent drama hasn't only caught UK regulators' attention. Bloomberg reported Friday that the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) is looking into Microsoft's investment in the Sam Altman-led company and whether it violates US antitrust laws. FTC Chair Lina Khan wrote in a New York Times op-ed earlier this year that "the expanding adoption of AI risks further locking in the market dominance of large incumbent technology firms." Bloomberg's report stresses that the FTC inquiry is preliminary, and the agency hasn't opened a formal investigation. But Khan and company are reportedly "analyzing the situation and assessing what its options are." One complicating factor for regulation is that OpenAI is a non-profit, and transactions involving non-corporate entities aren't required by law to be reported.

Microsoft and OpenAI's close relationship has taken another leap forward with the former gaining exclusive GPT-3 access. GPT-3 has been the talk of the AI town in recent months. OpenAI's innovation can help to create convincing articles and the company once deemed it too dangerous to release in a world where misinformation and fake news is already problematic. OpenAI never made GPT-3 publicly available but instead provided access to a limited number of trusted researchers. Microsoft announced today that it now has the exclusive rights to leverage GPT-3's "technical innovations to develop and deliver advanced AI solutions for our customers, as well as create new solutions that harness the amazing power of advanced natural language generation."