FILE PHOTO: AI (Artificial Intelligence) letters and robot hand miniature in this illustration, taken June 23, 2023. REUTERS/Dado Ruvic/Illustration/File Photo
(Reuters) -Britain's competition watchdog said on Thursday it had started an investigation into whether Amazon's partnership with AI startup Anthropic raised competition, days after it began a similar probe on Alphabet's collaboration with the startup.
The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) said it now had until Oct. 4 for its so-called Phase 1 decision to either refer the artificial intelligence (AI)-focussed partnership for a deeper probe or clear it of competition concerns.
"Amazon's collaboration with Anthropic does not raise any competition concerns or meet the CMA's own threshold for review," an Amazon spokesperson said in an emailed statement.
"Amazon holds no board seat nor decision-making power at Anthropic, and Anthropic is free to work with any other provider (and indeed has multiple partners)," the spokesperson said, echoing comments from an Anthropic spokesperson.
"Our strategic partnerships and investor relationships do not diminish our corporate governance independence or our freedom to partner with others," the Anthropic spokesperson said.
"We intend to cooperate with the CMA and provide them with a comprehensive understanding of Amazon's investment and our commercial collaboration."
Late in July, CMA launched a probe into Google parent Alphabet's partnership with Anthropic, which was co-founded by former OpenAI executives and siblings Dario and Daniela Amodei.
Antitrust regulators around the world have been increasingly concerned by multiple deals struck between smaller industry startups and big tech giants.
Regulators in the United States, European Union and Britain signed a joint statement in July promising to work together to safeguard fair competition in the industry.
(Reporting by Prerna Bedi and Yamini Kalia in Bengaluru; Editing by Savio D'Souza)
