Microsoft 's multibillion-dollar investment in artificial intelligence firm OpenAI could face a full-blown merger investigation in the European Union, EU officials signaled Tuesday.
The European Commission, which is the executive arm of the EU, said it was embarking on a competition investigation looking at the markets for virtual worlds and generative artificial intelligence.
"The European Commission is checking whether Microsoft's investment in OpenAI might be reviewable under the EU Merger Regulation," the commission said in a statement on Tuesday.
"Virtual worlds and generative AI are rapidly developing," Margrethe Vestager, European commissioner for competition, said in a statement Tuesday.
The company has integrated some OpenAI technology into its Office, Bing and Windows products, and provides OpenAI with its own Azure cloud computing tools.
Persons:
Margrethe Vestager
Organizations:
Microsoft, European Union, European Commission, European, EU, CNBC, Bing
Locations:
Redmond, Washington, OpenAI