The Federal Trade Commission (FTC ) will move ahead with a wide-ranging antitrust probe into Microsoft’s AI operations. Announced in the last days of the Biden administration, the Trump administration’s new FTC head Andrew Ferguson did lead the sensor. The FTC sent Microsoft a legal analytical need late next years asking it to provide information about its AI types, including how education data is obtained and how much it costs to coach an AI. The legal analytical need stretches all the way back to 2016 and covers roughly a season’s worth of data.
Why the FTC is investigating Microsoft
The company may also check Microsoft for canceling some of its own internal AI growth after agreeing to invest in company OpenAI. Microsoft did not disclose its funding in OpenAI to authorities ahead of time, as it should have. The FTC may check whether the offer was structured as a relationship in order to avoid a acquisition investigation, which could have led to the offer being blocked.
The FTC also asked for additional information about Microsoft’s information centres and the tech giant’s problems obtaining much computing power to meet consumer needs. It also wants more information about how Microsoft licenses program boxes — companies have complained that boxes like Microsoft 365 make it difficult to contend against the technology giant.
The FTC said it is seeking to determine whether or not Microsoft’s other businesses give it an advantage over other AI companies and said it hopes to get a better grasp on cloud computing costs through the data provided by Microsoft. These additional details and data will help determine whether or not to bring a case against Microsoft.
These investigations can take years and often don’t result in charges. Microsoft will likely seek to narrow the scope of the information and data requested, which is a common move during these investigations.
FTC to pursue other cases against big tech companies
This move indicates that new FTC chair Ferguson intends to keep investigating tech giants — a commitment he affirmed in his first public remarks at the end of February when he called investigating the tech sector his top priority.
Microsoft is not the only tech company currently under FTC investigation. Ferguson inherited several cases from the Biden administration, including lawsuits against Amazon Inc. and Meta Inc. ( which owns Facebook and Instagram ).
