28 December 2023
With all the attention focused on artificial intelligence, many people are forgetting that a key future component of this industry is antitrust. Antitrust enforcement and legislation of artificial intelligence will be a key policy area in the years to come as the technology develops. Because of this, the government should get to work now on solutions like ensuring that algorithms do not allow unlawful collusion and avoiding using exclusionary practices.
Recently, the Biden administration and the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) have pursued antitrust cases against a number of notable companies. Microsoft recently won its acquisition case, allowing it to acquire the video game maker, Activision Blizzard, for $69 billion. They are also currently pursuing an antitrust case against Google for allegedly illegally abusing its power over online search engines to strangle competition. The government also recently sued Amazon for allegedly preventing sellers from selling their goods for a lower price on other sites.
All of these actions reflect a renewed focus on tech companies and antitrust laws, yet it is most likely too late to alter the companies or break them up in any way. These companies have been established for years now, and it would upset the established norms of the internet if they were forced to break up or change in any way. Additionally, there is debate over the existence of the laws and regulations that the government cites to allege harmful practices against companies—practices like controlling consumer data to create competitive advantages or using self-prefencing for their products on their platforms. Furthermore, many of these cases will likely take years of litigation and back-and-forth between the companies and the government. These cases won’t be resolved for many years, meaning there won’t be changes for many years.
Artificial intelligence, or A.I., has exploded in interest and popularity over the past year. As it has risen in popularity, the world has become entranced by generative artificial intelligence, the most popular form of artificial intelligence. Generative A.I. creates new material based on its previous experience. It uses a process called machine learning, where the artificial intelligence is exposed to large amounts of data which it trains on and learns to replicate and mimic. The point of the technology is to reproduce human behavior so effectively that no one is able to deduce that it is a machine and not a human.
Currently, many of the available artificial intelligence systems are free to users. This allows companies to continually improve the artificial intelligence while also giving the system more training data. However, the programs to create these artificial intelligences are fairly expensive, leading to the expectation that the artificial intelligences will one day become monetized.
There are many antitrust concerns about artificial intelligence for the future. The first is that the systems for artificial intelligence require large amounts of data. This favors companies like Google and Microsoft who can invest in artificial intelligence and then supplant their systems with the large amounts of data they have collected over the years. This would bring the practice of bundling into question. This happens when a company offers multiple products together as one package. Large tech companies like Google and Microsoft could link their artificial intelligence systems with their already existing programs, making them exclusive. This would box out other competitors who are stand-alone systems not tied to an existing market force.
It is on the FTC and Congress to ensure that there is a competitive market for artificial intelligence. As the FTC is currently realizing, it is difficult to change a company that has become entrenched into society like Google and Amazon have. Since artificial intelligence is the future of the world, it is important to keep competition as wide open as possible. The government can work to keep competition by not giving government contracts for one artificial intelligence. This would signal that the government is serious about competition and that it doesn’t want the consolidation of companies. It is also important that Congress passes a framework of regulations for artificial intelligence. Currently there are no rules on how artificial intelligence can be used or how it should be handled.
There are a couple of areas that Congress should focus on. One is ensuring that algorithms do not facilitate unlawful collusion. There are concerns that artificial intelligence programs could collude with each other to fix prices or abuse a monopoly power to contain other programs. Many companies are using algorithms to analyze large data sets. Through this, there is a concern that the algorithms could possibly facilitate unlawful agreements. This could take the shape of companies instructing their artificial intelligences to fix prices. Legislation should be passed that instructs companies to program artificial intelligence not to share their sensitive data with third parties.
Another area is avoiding exclusionary practices on existing services. Many of the large technology companies are working on their own artificial intelligence programs. If they are not, there are many cutting-edge companies that are also working on artificial intelligence programs. They could enter into agreements with artificial intelligence companies or solely use their own programs, to the detriment of competition. As a solution, the companies should consider whether this practice is truly necessary, while the government should consider outlawing the practice.
These are a couple of the areas that Congress should focus on now, before it creates problems in the future.
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Works Cited
- Mccabe, David, and Cecilia Kang. “In Its First Monopoly Trial of Modern Internet Era, U.S. Sets Sights on Google.” The New York Times, September 6, 2023. https://www.nytimes.com/2023/09/06/technology/modern-internet-first-monopoly-trial-us-google-dominance.html.
- Hadero, Haleluya. “FTC Faces Long and Winding Road Ahead in Amazon Antitrust Lawsuit.” PBS, October 10, 2023. https://www.pbs.org/newshour/politics/ftc-faces-long-and-winding-road-ahead-in-amazon-antitrust-lawsuit.
- “Microsoft, Google, and a New Era of Antitrust.” Harvard Business Review, February 23, 2023. https://hbr.org/2023/02/microsoft-google-and-a-new-era-of-antitrust.
- Heilweil, Rebecca. “What Is Generative AI, and Why Is It Suddenly Everywhere?” Vox, January 5, 2023. https://www.vox.com/recode/2023/1/5/23539055/generative-ai-chatgpt-stable-diffusion-lensa-dall-e.
- “Generative AI Raises Competition Concerns.” Federal Trade Commission, June 29, 2023. https://www.ftc.gov/policy/advocacy-research/tech-at-ftc/2023/06/generative-ai-raises-competition-concerns.
- “Ai Antitrust Issues Checklist: Insights: Vinson & Elkins LLP.” Vinson & Elkins, April 11, 2024. https://www.velaw.com/insights/ai-antitrust-issues-checklist/.
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