Athira Sethu
Kochi, 11 December 2024
Google has asked the U.S. government to force Microsoft to end its exclusive agreement to host OpenAI’s technology on Microsoft’s cloud servers, according to a report from The Information.
This came following the Federal Trade Commission of the United States beginning an investigation into the business practices of Microsoft. Google and other cloud providers, such as Amazon, want the right to host the models from OpenAI on their servers. This will enable the customers of Google and other similar companies to use the technology from OpenAI without having to rely on Microsoft’s cloud services.
Currently, companies that buy OpenAI’s technology through Microsoft have to use Microsoft’s cloud servers. If these companies don’t already use Microsoft’s cloud for their operations, they may face extra costs to access OpenAI’s models, reports said. Google and other competitors argue that these additional charges could hurt customers.
The scenario brings to the fore increasing competition in the cloud services market. Google, Amazon, and others think that by offering OpenAI’s models on their servers would help in reducing the costs and increase the options for the customer.
Neither Microsoft, Google, OpenAI, nor the FTC commented on this matter yet, according to the report. The issue is part of continuous public scrutiny of big tech companies’ practices and the way they might affect the industry regarding cloud services competition.
