Microsoft has dropped plans to take an observer seat on the board of ChatGPT maker OpenAI, according to a letter seen by AFP on Wednesday, as antitrust regulators step up scrutiny of the artificial intelligence market.
Microsoft’s $13 billion partnership with OpenAI has raised concerns on both sides of the Atlantic about how much influence it has over its smaller partner.
Regulators began looking into the partnership after a failed boardroom coup last year against OpenAI CEO Sam Altman, whom Microsoft supported and even briefly hired.
It was after the turmoil at OpenAI that Microsoft took a seat on the board as a non-voting observer and is now stepping down.
Microsoft’s withdrawal is “effective immediately,” the letter said.
“Over the past eight months we have witnessed significant progress from the newly formed board of directors and we are confident in the direction of the company,” Microsoft wrote to OpenAI in the letter sent on Tuesday.
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“We no longer believe that our limited role as an observer is necessary.”
The European Commission, the EU’s influential antitrust regulator, concluded last month after a preliminary review that Microsoft’s investment did not mean it had taken control of OpenAI.
However, Microsoft was still being considered for an observer position on the board by British competition regulators and faced a possible antitrust investigation in the United States.
When OpenAI’s ChatGPT chatbot came on the scene in November 2022, it marked the popular arrival of the AI ββrevolution.
Media reports said Apple had similarly passed on the chance to join OpenAI’s board, but the iPhone maker was not immediately available for comment.
EU competition chief Margrethe Vestager has put big tech on the lookout for investment in the fast-growing artificial intelligence market and insisted the EU continues to monitor the sector.
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Brussels is now seeking more information from Microsoft about the OpenAI deal, Vestager said on June 28, to understand whether “certain exclusivity clauses could have a negative effect on competition.”
Source: AFP