Regulators look into Microsoft’s OpenAI stake

Unusual collaboration: A file photo of Altman (left) and Nadella at an event last month. Microsoft is a non-voting observer on OpenAI’s board. — AP

Washington: With global regulators examining Microsoft Corp’s US$13bil investment in OpenAI, the software giant has a simple argument it hopes will resonate with antitrust officials: It doesn’t own a traditional stake in the buzzy startup so can’t be said to control it.

When Microsoft negotiated an additional US$10bil investment in OpenAI in January, it opted for an unusual arrangement, people familiar with the matter said at the time. Rather than buy a chunk of the cutting-edge artificial intelligence (AI) lab, it cut a deal to receive almost half of OpenAI’s financial returns until the investment is repaid up to a pre-determined cap, one of the people said. The unorthodox structure was concocted because OpenAI is a capped for-profit company housed inside a non-profit organisation.