OpenAI sees itself at a competitive disadvantage – EU should act

Apparently, the world's most considered and largest start-up feels disadvantaged. OpenAI has therefore lobbied the EU and addressed its concerns to the Executive Vice President of the European Commission for Competition, Teresa Ribera. OpenAI wants her to do something about the advantages enjoyed by established companies such as Google, Microsoft, and Apple.

According to Bloomberg, the accusations center on the “retention of customers by large platforms.” This is said to be based on notes from a meeting in September, according to the report. According to OpenAI, “access to important data is essential” to maintain competition in the AI markets. In fact, the long-established big tech companies are probably sitting on a pile of data. First and foremost, Google, which is currently threatened with the spin-off of its advertising business in the USA due to anti-competitive behavior. But OpenAI also makes no secret of the fact that it utilizes all available data and, under the guise of fair use, also uses copyright-protected works such as training data.

The EU Commission did not comment on the meeting when asked by Bloomberg; OpenAI referred to an earlier blog post in which the competition problems were already discussed. In it, OpenAI describes, among other things, that the competition for the leading AI model will also determine the political and economic situation of the countries. US President Donald Trump has issued a decree that therefore prohibits the prevention of AI developments.

However, OpenAI also writes that Google “dictates access to data” and continues to secure a dominant position in the field of AI in an anti-competitive manner.

The holy grail: keeping people on the platform

OpenAI's concerns also include the fact that existing providers are trying to keep people on their platforms. However, OpenAI is also trying to do this with functions such as an instant checkout when shopping in ChatGPT and a social media feed for Sora.

It appears to be more like the holy tech grail, a service, or platform where people can find everything they need for their digital lives—and best of all, of course, beyond. Elon Musk dreams of the “Everything App X,” in which the former Twitter would be linked to a payment service. Meta wanted to create a digital world with the Metaverse, and Apple is clashing with the EU competition authorities because they have to authorize app stores besides their own.

Likewise, it is astonishing that OpenAI should have specifically mentioned Microsoft. The company is actually a close confidant and financier of OpenAI. However, the increasing disputes surrounding the positioning of OpenAI and the terms of the partnership are turning them into competitors. It has already been rumored from insider circles that OpenAI has a battle plan ready, according to which it will accuse Microsoft of unfair competition if it does not agree to the transformation into a profit-oriented company.

(emw)