EU competition chief signals fresh AI scrutiny for Microsoft-OpenAI deal

The European Commission is taking a fresh look into Microsoft’s multibillion-dollar partnership with OpenAI (Michael Dwyer/AP)

The European Union is escalating its scrutiny of the artificial intelligence industry, including taking a fresh look into Microsoft’s multibillion-dollar partnership with OpenAI, a top EU official said on Friday.

The European Commission, the bloc’s executive arm, started reviewing the deal last year to see whether it broke EU merger rules but dropped it after concluding Microsoft had not gained control of OpenAI, Margrethe Vestager, the commission’s executive vice-president for competition policy, said in a speech.