LONDON — The U.K. competition regulator launched an investigation into the artificial intelligence industry, seeking to examine potential competition and consumer concerns as U.S. tech giants Microsoft and Google square off over the technology. The probe will focus on "foundation models" like large language models and generative AI, such as those being developed by Microsoft-backed firm OpenAI. Large language models are AI systems trained on huge amounts of data to understand human language and come up with humanlike responses to user inputs. However, they have also caused alarm for regulators who are concerned by the rapid pace at which AI systems are being developed and what this means for the labor market. The announcement by the CMA follows a request by the government to regulators to review how principles like safety, transparency and accountability are being incorporated into AI systems.

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