The DOJ and FTC will split responsibility for investigating the largest tech companies involved in developing artificial intelligence.
The Justice Department and Federal Trade Commission are nearing an agreement to divvy up investigations of potential anticompetitive conduct by some of the world’s largest technology companies in the artificial intelligence industry, according to three people with knowledge of the negotiations.
As part of the arrangement, the DOJ is poised to investigate Nvidia and its leading position in supplying the high-end semiconductors underpinning AI computing, while the FTC is set to probe whether Microsoft, and its partner OpenAI, have unfair advantages with the rapidly evolving technology, particularly around the technology used for large language models.
The three companies have been leaders in AI, with the technology powering Nvidia today to a $3 trillion market value, second only to Microsoft.
The deal has been negotiated for nearly a year. And while leaders of both agencies have expressed urgency in ensuring that the rapidly growing artificial intelligence technology is not dominated by existing tech giants, until an agreement is finalized, there was very little investigative work they could do.
The agreement is not yet final, but could be completed as soon as this week.
Spokespeople for the DOJ, FTC, Nvidia, Microsoft and OpenAI did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
