US regulators are reportedly investigating whether tech giants are abusing their position in the AI market.
Among the companies surveyed NVIDIAThe Wall Street Journal (WSJ) Reported On Sunday (September 8), the Department of Justice (DOJ) has already been in contact with the company, which owns more than 80% of the artificial intelligence (AI) chip market, to discuss the terms of any deal or partnership, according to sources.
The investigation is still in its early stages, and Justice Department lawyers have not yet issued a subpoena to Nvidia for internal documents, the people said. Nvidia said it has not received one, despite reports last week that it had. The Justice Department could issue subpoenas in the coming months if it determines a more in-depth investigation is warranted, the people said.
When reached for comment by PYMNTS, an Nvidia spokesperson provided the following statement:
“NVIDIA wins on merit, as reflected in our benchmark results and the value of being able to choose the best solution for our customers. We compete on decades of investment and innovation, designing GPUs, CPUs, networks and software for accelerated computing and AI, adhering to all laws and making NVIDIA openly available to any company, on any cloud and on-premises.”
The Justice Department’s efforts come amid a Federal Trade Commission (FTC) investigation into AI investments by Amazon, Google, Microsoft and others. It was released earlier this year.
The Journal noted that federal regulators have been reluctant to put too much pressure on tech companies, which critics on both the left and the right say has given too much power to a handful of giant companies, which the report argues has contributed to a more aggressive antitrust enforcement stance under President Joe Biden.
“The Department of Justice will say, ‘We’ve seen enough about Big Tech to know we want to investigate them,'” University of Chicago law professor Randall Picker told the Journal. “You’re allowed to have market power, you’re allowed to have it. The question is always how do you exercise it?”
In other AI-related news, PYMNTS reported last week: Shoub Khan,prime minister Sir Syed Case Institute of TechnologyWith the rise of artificial intelligence startups, what role does AI play in commerce? Safe Superintelligence $1 billion funding round.
Khan told PYMNTS that AI in commerce has its limitations.
“This relies on accurately modeling the probability distribution of the data. When the data does not follow a clear distribution or depends on factors that are hard to measure, such as Bitcoin price predictions, AI is of limited use.”
But despite the challenges, there is reason to be optimistic about AI’s potential in business, he added.
“We see great benefit in helping investors leverage AI for commercial decision-making by building complex models, incorporating all the relevant factors and data, and reimagining the role of human oversight and trust,” Khan said.
