By Pranab Khan 
Microsoft has hired (Microsoft Hires) Mustafa Suleyman, a cofounder of Google DeepMind, as part of their Inflection AI team. Suleyman left Google in 2022 to start Inflection AI and is now the CEO of Microsoft AI.
Increased Scrutiny on AI Partnerships
Regulators in the UK and EU are paying more attention to the AI partnerships and investments by big tech companies. The UK’s Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) showed interest in Microsoft’s partnership with Mistral AI but decided it didn’t need investigation under merger rules.
EU Antitrust Charges Microsoft Hires
Microsoft is facing charges from the EU for bundling its Teams app with Office 365 and Microsoft 365 subscriptions. If found guilty, Microsoft could be fined up to 10 percent of its annual global revenue. Microsoft also settled with a cloud industry group in Europe to avoid a potential antitrust fight.
Investigation into Inflection AI Staff Hiring
UK regulators are now investigating Microsoft’s hiring of Inflection AI staff. This happened months after most of Inflection’s staff joined Microsoft’s new AI division. The CMA is starting a phase one merger investigation into this partnership. They have a deadline of September 11th to decide if the investigation will move to a second phase.
Impact on Microsoft’s AI Plans
If the investigation goes to phase two, it could slow down Microsoft’s AI plans. The CMA did a similar review of Microsoft’s $68.7 billion purchase of Activision Blizzard in 2022. That review led Microsoft to change the deal and give up key cloud gaming rights in the UK and other markets. The current investigation into Inflection AI is still in its early stages, but the results could have a big impact.
