UK regulators are now formally investigating Microsoft’s hiring of Inflection AI staff, months after most of Inflection’s staff joined Microsoft’s new AI division. The UK’s Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) is now opening up a phase one merger investigation into the partnership, with a September 11th deadline over whether the investigation will progress into a second phase.
If the case progresses to the phase two stage, then it could present a stumbling block for Microsoft’s AI ambitions. The CMA last signaled a more in-depth review of Microsoft’s $68.7 billion acquisition of Activision Blizzard in 2022, eventually forcing the company to restructure its deal and give up key cloud gaming rights in the UK and many other markets…
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