Sarah Cardell News

The UK’s Competition and Markets Authority (CMA), led by Sarah Cardell, has voiced its displeasure with the control of AI Foundation Models (FMs) by a small number of tech companies. This concern was outlined in a paper presented by the CEO during an Antitrust Law Spring Meeting in Washington on April 11.

The judgment overturned the Competition Appeal Tribunal's (CAT) March 2023 decision, which upheld an appeal by Apple and put the CMA's investigation on hold.

The paper came following the CMA’s decision to block the takeover of Activision by Microsoft, which received criticism and was eventually reversed.

British competition regulators has signaled that Microsoft’s restructured $69 billion deal to buy video game maker Activision Blizzard is likely to receive antitrust approval

There is a “real risk” that the artificial intelligence industry could develop in a way that could end up with only a few firms dominating the market, while consumers are bombarded with harmful information, according to the United Kingdom's competition watchdog. 

major tech companies to the detriment of consumers and businesses, by emphasising the need for accountability and transparency. Britain's anti-trust regulator, the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA), is, like other authorities around the world, trying to control some of the potential negative consequences of AI without stifling innovation.

competition regulator proposed principles to govern new artificial intelligence (AI) models on Monday, including accountability, access and transparency, as it seeks to foster competitive growth in the fast-moving technology. The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) started looking at the impact of generative AI applications such as ChatGPT in May to try to ensure the technology benefited businesses and consumers.

If Microsoft Corp completes its acquisition of Activision Blizzard in the coming months, the $69 billion deal will go down as one of the biggest comeback stories in the history of mergers. By this past April, the gaming industry’s biggest acquisition ever appeared doomed. US regulators had filed a challenge to the takeover and their counterparts in the UK had blocked it outright.

Microsoft has submitted a new proposal to Britain's competition regulator for the acquisition of video gaming giant Activision Blizzard, the watchdog said Tuesday, after a previous version of the deal was blocked. Xbox-owner Microsoft launched a bid for Activision Blizzard early last year, seeking to establish the world's third biggest gaming firm by revenue after China's Tencent and Japan's PlayStation maker Sony. But the $69 billion deal for the purchase of the owner of game titles including Call of Duty, World of Warcraft and Candy Crush has faced significant scrutiny by regulators. Britain's Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) said it has «opened a new phase 1 investigation into a new, restructured deal by Microsoft to buy Activision». It added that the new deal follows confirmation by the regulator that «the original deal would be blocked to protect innovation and choice in cloud gaming». Under the new proposed deal «Microsoft will not acquire cloud rights for existing Activision PC and console games, or for new games released by Activision during the next 15 years (this excludes the European Economic Area),» the CMA said. Instead these rights will be divested to French game developer Ubisoft Entertainment prior to Microsoft's acquisition of Activision, according to the CMA. Ubisoft will in particular have «the ability to supply Activision's gaming content to all cloud gaming service providers (including to Microsoft itself)». «This will allow gamers to access Activision's games in different ways, including through cloud-based multigame subscription services,» Sarah Cardell, the CMA chief executive, said. — Confidence — Cardell added that «this is not a green light». «Our goal has not changed — any future

Microsoft Corp.'s $69 billion acquisition of Activision Blizzard Inc., following a substantial alteration to the proposed merger by the tech giant. This move, as reported by Bloomberg effectively resets the acquisition process to its initial stages, as announced by the country's antitrust watchdog on Tuesday. In an uncommon development, the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) declared that it was reevaluating Microsoft's offer after the company indicated its intention to sell the rights of all present and future Activision games for the next 15 years to Ubisoft Entertainment SA.

The UK Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) has announced an examination of the impact of AI on consumers and the economy, with a focus on foundation models. The regulator plans to examine the development and deployment of applications like OpenAI's ChatGPT against key principles, including safety, transparency, fairness, and accountability. The review will examine the competitive market for AI foundation models and their usage, as regulators aim to monitor how they can expand and present opportunities, along with risks to competition and consumers.

The Competition and Markets Authority has ended the year-long wait to find out who will become the regulator's new chief executive.