Janice R. Andrews
Britain’s competition watchdog has initiated a formal review of Alphabet’s $2.3 billion investment in Anthropic, the AI company behind Claude chatbot. The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) is examining whether this significant financial commitment from Google’s parent company could potentially stifle competition in Britain’s artificial intelligence sector.
Following a public consultation period earlier this year, the CMA announced Thursday it had gathered enough evidence to commence its initial investigative phase. This preliminary examination will evaluate potential competitive impacts and regulatory compliance of Alphabet’s stake in Anthropic, which develops AI systems that compete with Google’s own Gemini.
The investigation follows the CMA’s standard two-tiered approach: an initial assessment for competition concerns, followed by a possible in-depth analysis if warranted. The authority will determine by December 19 whether to advance to a more comprehensive second phase investigation.
Responding to concerns, Alphabet has emphasized Anthropic’s operational independence. A Google representative informed Engadget that Anthropic maintains freedom to collaborate with multiple cloud providers and faces no exclusive technology restrictions. This investment builds upon Alphabet’s earlier $300 million commitment to Anthropic in early 2023.
Industry observers suggest this deal might represent a “quasi-merger” arrangement, where substantial investments and strategic personnel sharing enable larger corporations to exercise unofficial influence over emerging companies. Such arrangements have attracted increasing regulatory attention globally.
While Amazon has also invested $4 billion in Anthropic, the CMA chose not to investigate that deal, citing Anthropic’s limited UK revenue and the combined entities’ market share falling below regulatory thresholds.
The CMA’s investigation of Alphabet’s investment reflects growing regulatory vigilance over market concentration in artificial intelligence. The outcome could establish important precedents for future investments in this rapidly evolving sector.
