Google: "MS Has Exclusive Rights to OpenAI Products on Cloud... Unfair"

"Request for Destruction to US Competition Authorities"

Google has reportedly requested the U.S. competition authorities to terminate Microsoft's (MS) exclusive contract with OpenAI, the developer of ChatGPT, on its cloud platform, according to the U.S. IT media The Information on the 10th (local time).

This request came after the U.S. Federal Trade Commission (FTC), which is conducting a comprehensive antitrust investigation into MS's core businesses, inquired with Google, a competing company, about MS's business practices, the media reported.

Not only Google but also other cloud competitors such as Amazon are said to want the termination of MS's exclusive contract to supply OpenAI's models.

MS signed a partnership with OpenAI in 2019 and, in return for investing $13 billion by last year, obtained exclusive rights to run OpenAI's AI models, including ChatGPT, on its cloud platform 'Azure.'

Industry experts widely agree that OpenAI's influence has been a major factor in Azure rapidly increasing its market share this year in competition with Amazon, Google, and others.

According to market research firm Synergy Research Group, in the second quarter, the global cloud market share was 32% for Amazon, 23% for MS, and 12% for Google. MS's share was once more than 20% behind the market leader Amazon but has narrowed the gap to single digits and is closely pursuing.

The FTC officially launched a comprehensive antitrust investigation into MS's cloud, software, cybersecurity, and AI businesses last month. This is the first FTC antitrust investigation into MS since the 1990s when MS was investigated for bundling the Internet browser 'Internet Explorer' with Windows by default.

Due to objections from cloud competitors, there is an analysis that the partnership between MS and OpenAI is facing a serious crisis. Relatedly, the British magazine The Economist reported last October that "MS's exclusive contract for OpenAI models will not last forever." Meanwhile, major stakeholders including MS, Google, OpenAI, and the FTC did not respond to foreign media requests for comments regarding this Information report.