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Microsoft has joined an exclusive gild of tech heavyweight that are subject to a particular abuse control regime in Germany . The nation ’s Federal Cartel Office ( FCO ) sustain on Monday that the software heavyweight could face restriction if the competitor office deems an interposition is necessary .
The designation , which hold up for five years , is important , as it lets the German authority take a secretive interest in how Microsoft maintain its influence through its activities around reproductive AI .
However , the regulator said it has yet to take any decisions on “ possible transactions . ”
In recent years , Microsoft ’s influence on OpenAI haslandedthe dyad on antitrust regulators’radars . The snug relationship even look Microsoft in brief hire OpenAI front - man Sam Altman and other cardinal stafferslast fallduring a board dispute .
Although Altman end up remain at OpenAI , the sequence underscored the closeness between the two companies , and Microsoft even got a board commentator seat at OpenAI ( itgave it up this summertime ) . However , careful structuring of their arrangement appear to havekept it vaporize for now .
The FCO has already looked atthe two companies ’ partnership , and it foundlast Novemberthat their relationship did not receive the door for a traditional unification recapitulation . However , now that the regulator is build up with more proactive and widely - rove powers to regulate Big Tech , Microsoft ’s dealings with OpenAI could front closer examination in Germany going forward .
The FCO’spress releasehighlights how Microsoft ’s Copilot AI help is used “ in many parts ” of its ecosystem . It also links the company ’s strength in cloud computing to helping it enter partnerships with “ highly innovative supplier , ” as it can “ put up their AI models as service on Azure and integrate them into its own products . ”
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Commenting in a statement , Andreas Mundt , President of the United States of the FCO , also highlighted Microsoft ’s long history of software dominance , lend : “ Today , Microsoft ’s ecosystem is stronger and more closely interconnected than ever before , because overarching all of its activities is the increase consumption of the cloud and AI , key technologies in which Microsoft has consolidate its warm billet by developing its own product and enter into cooperation . “
The FCO lead off investigate whether the technical school giant ’s market power met the saloon for the special abuse controls regime back inMarch 2023 . And this confirmation that the companionship has “ overriding significance for challenger across markets ” unlocks a range of superpower hold in the 2021 update to Germany ’s antimonopoly rulebook . The reform drive to counteract concerns that Big Tech ’s food market power is hampering rivals ’ ability to introduce and compete .
The German law already applies toAmazon , Apple , GoogleandMeta , and predate the European Union ’s Digital Markets Act ( DMA ) , a similar ex - ante competition reform that is also being used to clip Big Tech ’s offstage .
However , the DMA applies useable controls only to name platform , while the FCO has doom Microsoft as a whole . This intend the German authority has swell freedom to impose control on Microsoft ’s activities , include around AI , if it approximate the company ’s actions are kink rivalry .
The EU ’s DMA was drafted before the boom in reproductive AI tools made ChatGPT a household name . Microsoft is designated as a hall porter , but only two of its platforms are right away order : the Windows operating system and its societal internet LinkedIn . That fix the European Commission ’s power to intervene in Microsoft ’s activity in AI unless they specifically fall within these two “ core platform services . ”
“ Our decision applies to Microsoft as a whole , not only to individual services or product , ” Mundt emphasized . “ Based on our conclusion , we can stop anti - competitive practices which are not comprehend by the DMA . ”
Reached for gossip on the FCO ’s designation , Microsoft spokesperson Robin Koch wrote : “ We realize our responsibility to support a healthy competitory environment and we will strive to be proactive , collaborative and responsible in working with the Bundeskartellamt [ FCO ] . Microsoft is partner with Germany ’s most innovative companies , and we ’re committed to empower in the growing of its digital saving . ”
