US Antitrust Chief Launches Investigation into Risks of AI Monopoly

AI Monopoly Concerns Spark Investigation by US Antitrust Chief


By Harvey Hunter
Updated: June 6, 2024 07:59 EDT
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Reading Time: 2 minutes


Jonathan Kanter, the US Antitrust Enforcer, has emphasized the urgency for regulators to thoroughly investigate the AI sector to prevent potential monopolies.
In a report by the Financial Times, Kanter mentioned that he is closely examining the “monopoly choke points and the competitive landscape” within AI.
These choke points include computing power, data utilized for training large language models (LLMs), cloud service providers, engineering talent, and hardware.
Kanter has called on the AI sector to take immediate action to prevent current dominant technology companies from gaining complete market control. He has expressed concerns that AI is currently at a peak of competition and not at its lowest point.
According to Kanter, real-time intervention could be the most effective approach. “The beauty of that is you can be less invasive,” he added.
US Officials Aim to Thwart an AI Monopoly
Kanter highlighted that graphics processing units (GPUs) have become a “scarce resource,” especially in AI for training LLMs.
Nvidia currently holds a dominant position in the sales of advanced GPUs. Following the release of its first-quarter earnings report on May 23, Nvidia reported a 262% revenue increase from the previous year.
Post the earnings report, Nvidia’s stock prices surged to a new all-time high of $1,007, pushing its valuation over $2.5 trillion.
Kanter also mentioned ongoing government efforts to boost chip production, citing the 2022 Chips and Science Act that provides $39 billion in subsidies for chip manufacturing in the US.
However, he cautioned that antitrust regulators are monitoring how chip manufacturers allocate their most advanced products amidst high demand.
He warned that decisions favoring competitive outcomes over profitability and shareholder value could lead to an AI monopoly.
Since the launch of OpenAI’s ChatGPT in November 2022, companies have been competing to secure multibillion-dollar partnerships with leading AI firms and those developing models and applications based on the technology.
Notably, Microsoft has made significant investments in OpenAI, acquiring rights to its intellectual property and profits. Additionally, Amazon has struck multi-billion-dollar deals with competitor Anthropic.
Crypto-AI Firms Take the Lead
In response, emerging AI-focused platforms are racing to develop decentralized AI technology on the blockchain, leading to the emergence of promising AI-based cryptocurrencies with a combined market cap exceeding $38.7 billion.
One notable development is the merger of SingularityNET, Fetch.ai, and Ocean Protocol tokens into ASI, forming the largest open-sourced, decentralized network focused on the AI industry.
Under this collaboration, the three companies will maintain their separate operations but work together under the Superintelligence Collective, a newly established entity.
The Collective aims to create an ecosystem free from control by large corporations, solely accountable to shareholders under the governance token.
Their mission is to foster collaborative innovation and establish a fair playing field within the technological landscape. In a recent post, they stated:
Therefore, leveraging the decentralized nature of cryptocurrency could be crucial in enabling this innovative technology to flourish without creating an AI monopoly.
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