UK competition regulator drops probe into Google's Anthropic investment

UK regulators have announced that Google owner Alphabet's investment in AI safety and research company Anthropic doesn't require a full, in-depth probe.

The Competition and Markets Authority said on Tuesday that it doesn't believe Google has acquired a "material influence" over Anthropic as a result of its partnership.

Additionally, the watchdog said that the partnership is not deemed an official "relevant merger situation" given that Anthropic's UK turnover is under £70m.

US-based Anthropic is known for its AI chatbot Claude, which some see as a competitor to OpenAI's ChatGPT and Google Gemini.

The startup has already raised a significant amount of funding from blue-chip tech and investment firms like Amazon, Menlo Ventures and Spark Capital. Amazon in particular said in September 2023 that it was investing up to $4bn.

Google announced in October 2023 that it would invest up to $2bn in the company, putting up $500m upfront and the remainder over time.

Last month, the CMA launched a merger inquiry to decide whether or not to launch a phase two investigation on the back of concerns over competition.

Regulators said they were looking at potential sources of Google's influence over Anthropic at the shareholder or board level, along with whether Google is deemed an important source of compute, distribution services through its Vertex AI software, and/or funding.

"The CMA has decided that Alphabet’s partnership with Anthropic does not qualify for investigation under the merger provisions of the Enterprise Act 2002," the CMA said in a statement.