UK regulator looks at Google’s partnership with Anthropic

CMA to consider whether deal with AI startup is a potential merger, which could prompt full investigation

The Competition and Markets Authority has launched a preliminary investigation into a partnership between Google and Anthropic, marking the latest in a string of investigations into deals between big tech companies and AI startups.

Google invested $2bn into Anthropic in 2023, shortly after signing a cloud computing agreement with the startup, which develops the Claude LLM and chatbot.