The picture shows the front desk of Amazon’s office in New York on May 1, 2019.
Carlo Allegri | Reuters
The Federal Trade Commission has launched an informal investigation AmazonCNBC confirmed that a deal was recently announced with artificial intelligence startup Adept.
The Federal Trade Commission is seeking more information about an agreement announced last month that involves Amazon hiring key executives and licensing technology from Adept, a person familiar with the matter told CNBC. The person spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak publicly on the matter.
Reuters first reported that representatives from the FTC and Adept did not immediately respond to requests for comment on the investigation. An Amazon spokesman declined to comment on the details of the investigation.
The move comes as U.S. and foreign regulators increasingly scrutinize technology companies’ investments and partnerships with artificial intelligence startups. The U.S. Federal Trade Commission (FTC) announced in January that it was investigating Amazon. letter and MicrosoftRecent Artificial Intelligence Deals While the Justice Department Is Reviewing Nvidiathe top chipmaker driving the artificial intelligence craze.
Britain’s competition watchdog said on Tuesday it had launched an investigation MicrosoftRecruiting top talent from startup Inflection AI. The agency released a report in April in which it warned that partnerships between Microsoft and Inflection AI and Amazon and artificial intelligence startup Anthropic could allow them to “shape these markets to their own interests.”
Lawmakers including Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., pointed to Amazon’s deal with Adept as an example of tech companies licensing technology or making “acquisitions” to avoid antitrust scrutiny.
As part of the deal announced last month, Amazon hired Adept co-founder and CEO David Luan and “a number of other talented team members” to join its general artificial intelligence division. It also agreed to license Adept’s technology, multimodal models and some datasets.
Adept said in a blog post last month that it would require more funding to develop its own AI models, adding that the Amazon deal would allow it to focus on building AI agents.
The Adept deal marks Amazon’s latest high-profile bet on artificial intelligence. Amazon has also poured billions of dollars into OpenAI rival Anthropic and developed generative artificial intelligence products across its cloud computing, retail and consumer electronics businesses.
—CNBC’s Hayden Field contributed reporting.
