On July 23, 2024, authorities in the European Union, the United Kingdom and the United States signed a joint statement to demonstrate their commitment to protecting competition and ensuring the fair and honest treatment of consumers and businesses that utilize artificial intelligence (“AI”) technologies. The joint statement, issued by the UK Competition and Markets Authority (“CMA”), the European Commission, the U.S. Federal Trade Commission, and the U.S. Department of Justice, set out shared principles to preserve competition in AI markets, which carry risks that may cross international boundaries. For this reason, each of the four agencies has committed to using their respective powers to ensure that AI markets, and the use of AI technologies, continue to be fair, open, and competitive.
The joint statement discusses the need for government officials to assess potential AI risks by monitoring how emerging business models drive incentives and market behavior. The statement also addresses potential competition risks posed by AI Foundation Models, with a focus on firms that may restrict key inputs for the development of AI technologies and platforms with substantial market power that might attempt to entrench or extend that power to adjacent AI markets. The agencies also discuss the importance of fair dealing, interoperability and choice in the competitive process, as well as possible risks to consumers in AI markets that firms could deceptively or unfairly use consumer data to train their models, thus undermining consumers’ privacy, security and autonomy.
The joint statement was released after the CMA published an update to its initial report on AI Foundation Models in April 2024, to address growing concerns in the markets for AI Foundation Models, key risks to effective competition on AI Foundation Models, and the CMA’s plans for further action in these markets.
CMA Press Release | Joint statement on competition in generative AI foundation models and AI products