Warren, Wyden Launch Investigation into Google, Microsoft Partnerships with AI Developers Anthropic, OpenAI

Warren, Wyden Launch Investigation into Google, Microsoft Partnerships with AI Developers Anthropic, OpenAI

"We are concerned that corporate partnerships within the AI sector discourage competition, circumvent our antitrust laws, and result in fewer choices and higher prices for businesses and consumers using AI tools."

Text of Letter to Google/Anthropic (PDF) | Text of Letter to Microsoft/OpenAI (PDF)

Washington, D.C. - U.S. Senators Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) and Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) wrote to cloud service providers Google and Microsoft with concerns that their respective partnerships with AI developers Anthropic and OpenAI may violate antitrust laws, leading to fewer choices and higher prices for businesses and consumers using AI tools.

The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) warned in a January 2025 report that these types of partnerships might pose "risks to competition and consumers, such as '. . . locking in the market dominance of large incumbent technology firms." The FTC and the Department of Justice have also raised concerns about these partnerships, warning that they can act as de facto mergers and allow companies to consolidate talent, information, and resources, while bypassing the traditional scrutiny associated with mergers and acquisitions.

These partnerships can involve minority stakes and significant investment from cloud service providers (CSPs), like Google and Microsoft, giving them access to AI developers' talent, computing capacity, intellectual property, or business information.

In some cases, CSPs hire the top AI talent away from the AI developer and obtain exclusive licensing of the developer's technology, "effectively swallowing the start-up and its main assets - without becoming the owner of the firm." An agreement may also give the CSP a high level of control over, and stake in, the AI developer's business decisions. In the most egregious case, individuals have held concurrent board positions with both the CSP and the AI developer, in a blatant violation of U.S. antitrust law. Partnership agreements can also lock AI developers in with particular CSPs because of the high contractual and technical cost of starting an agreement with a new CSP, limiting innovation in cases where there are better partnerships available.

"Partnerships between CSPs and AI developers, if left unchecked, may accelerate consolidation of the AI sector, ultimately driving up prices and choking off innovation," wrote the senators.

In order to better understand the potential anticompetitive risks of these agreements, the senators requested the companies provide more information about their partnerships, including on the consolidation of computing resources, talent, and intellectual property, by April 21, 2025.

Senator Warren has long fought to crack down on corporate consolidation that threatens consumers and raises prices, including in the technology sector:

• In February 2025, Senator Elizabeth Warren wrote to Omeed Assefi, Acting Assistant Attorney General for the United States Department of Justice's (DOJ) Antitrust Division, calling on the agency to closely scrutinize Disney's proposed acquisition of FuboTV (Fubo).
• In December 2024, Senators Elizabeth Warren and Eric Schmitt (R-Mo.) introduced the bipartisan Protecting AI and Cloud Competition in Defense Act to ensure that the Department of Defense (DoD)'s procurement of artificial intelligence (AI) and cloud computing tools prioritizes resiliency and competition. The bill offers meaningful regulation to limit Big Tech monopolies from elbowing out competitors in the AI and cloud computing markets.
• In November 2024, U.S. Senators Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) and Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.) sent two letters regarding the impact of private equity and large corporations in veterinary care, to JAB Holding Company (JAB) and to Mars Petcare (Mars), a subsidiary of Mars, Inc., respectively.
• In October 2024, Senator Elizabeth Warren led the reintroduction of the Stop Wall Street Looting Act, comprehensive legislation to fundamentally reform the private equity industry and level the playing field by forcing private investment firms to take responsibility for the outcomes of companies they take over, empowering workers and protecting investors.
• In August 2024, U.S. Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) and Representative Joaquin Castro (D-Texas), joined by U.S. Senator Bernie Sanders (I-VT), wrote to the United States Department of Justice (DOJ) and Federal Communications Commission (FCC), calling on the agencies to closely scrutinize the proposed joint venture between FOX, Warner Bros. Discovery, and Disney subsidiary ESPN that would create a new streaming service named Venu Sports (Venu).
• In July 2024, Senators Warren, Klobuchar, Murphy, Sanders, Booker, and Blumenthal wrote a letter to the Department of Justice and Federal Communications Commission, urging them to scrutinize T-Mobile's proposed acquisition of UScellular.
• In July 2024, Senator Warren and Representatives Mark Pocan (D-Wis.) and John Garamendi (D-Calif.) urged the Department of Defense (DoD), FTC, and DOJ to review TransDigm Group Inc.'s acquisitions of two specialized aerospace contractors to prevent price gouging.
• In June 2024, Senator Warren wrote to DOJ, FTC, and the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), calling out high health care costs due to vertically integrated insurers, private equity companies, and pharmaceutical companies that are driving health care consolidation.
• In June 2024, Senators Warren and Markey (D-Mass.) introduced the Corporate Crimes Against Health Care Act of 2024 to root out corporate greed and private equity abuse in the health care system.
• In May 2024, chairing a hearing of the Senate Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs Committee Subcommittee on Economic Policy, Senator Warren highlighted the impact of concentration in the food industry and its impact on prices, product, and consumer choice.
• In May 2024, Senator Warren and Senator Josh Hawley (R-Mo.) introduced the bipartisan Airport Gate Competition Act, which would increase competition in the airline industry and lower prices for consumers by increasing the number of common-use gates in airports.
• In March 2024, Senator Warren and Representative Mary Gay Scanlon (D-Penn.) led a group of 14 lawmakers in urging the FTC to revive enforcement of the Robinson Patman Act, a critical tool to promote fair competition in the food industry.
• In March 2024, Senators Warren and Klobuchar led 26 lawmakers in urging the leadership of the House and Senate Appropriations Committees to strike parts of the Commerce, Science, and Justice (CJS) appropriations bill that undercut DOJ's ability to block anticompetitive mergers.
• In February 2024, Senator Warren urged FTC to closely scrutinize Choice Hotels' attempted hostile takeover of Wyndham Hotels & Resorts, which would further consolidate the hotel market and create the largest branded hotel chain in the United States.
• In February 2024, Senator Warren delivered the keynote address at RemedyFest, where she called out Big Tech for their anti-competitive tactics that have led to market consolidation and record profits.
• In February 2024, Senator Warren and 12 other lawmakers called on regulators to block the Capital One-Discover Merger.
• In December 2023, Senator Warren led 6 senators in a letter to Acting Comptroller of the Currency Michael Hsu, calling on OCC to allow states to move forward with their efforts to protect consumers from harmful bank practices. The senators criticized the OCC for overstepping its preemption authority under the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act, which the agency is abusing to block tough, state-level consumer protections.
• In November 2023, Senators Warren and Blumenthal called out U.S. Anesthesia Partners' (USAP) monopolistic business model and use of restrictive non-compete agreements that have reduced patients' quality of care, increased prices, and suppressed workers' wages.
• In October 2023, Senator Warren and Representative Pramila Jayapal (D-Wash.) urged DOJ and FTC to carefully scrutinize UnitedHealth Group's pending acquisition of Amedisys; and urged the agencies to scrutinize similar deals, reject behavioral or structural remedies, and oppose any health care acquisition that would threaten competition, increase prices, and reduce quality of care.
• In September 2023, Senator Warren and Representative Becca Balint (D-Vt.), along with a bicameral group of lawmakers, submitted a public comment to the FTC and DOJ in support of the agencies' proposed merger guidelines, endorsing the agencies' reading of antitrust law, praising the guidelines as necessary to prevent harm to workers, consumers, and small businesses.
• In August 2023, chairing a hearing of the Senate Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs Committee Subcommittee on Economic Policy, Senator Warren highlighted the need for regulators to implement the strongest version of bank merger review guidelines in order to ensure stability in the financial system.
• In July 2023, Senators Warren and Lindsey Graham unveiled comprehensive legislation that would rein in Big Tech by establishing a new commission to regulate online platforms. The commission would have concurrent jurisdiction with FTC and DOJ, and would be responsible for overseeing and enforcing the new statutory provisions in the bill and implementing rules to promote competition, protect privacy, protect consumers, and strengthen our national security.
• In June 2023, Senator Warren sent a letter to Assistant Attorney General Jonathan Kanter, Federal Deposit Investment Corporation (FDIC) Chairman Gruenberg, Acting Comptroller of the Currency Hsu, Federal Reserve Vice Chair for Supervision Michael Barr, and Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen, urging regulators to promote greater competition in the banking sector by toughening their stances on bank mergers and strengthening bank merger review guidelines.
• In May 2023, at a hearing of the Senate Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs Committee, Senator Warren questioned Acting Comptroller Hsu on his decision to approve JPMorgan Chase's purchase of First Republic Bank after its collapse. This merger allowed a large, poorly supervised bank to be swallowed by America's largest bank, making it $200 billion larger than it was before.

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