Assessing the competitive dynamics of AI partnerships

Artificial intelligence (AI) partnerships have become a prevalent strategy in AI markets, enabling developers to access critical resources for developing and deploying AI models. As concerns over market concentration and potential anti-competitive practices by incumbent firms grow, competition authorities worldwide are intensifying their scrutiny of these partnerships, using a range of enforcement and regulatory tools. However, reviewing these partnerships presents new and complex competition challenges. This paper first categorizes AI partnerships into five types based on their rationale, namely, expertise, data, compute, distribution and investment. It then explores key competition concerns identified through market studies and investigations, analysing them through the frameworks of merger laws, antitrust laws and relevant regulations. The paper concludes with policy recommendations, suggesting competition authorities ensure predictability in the application of merger control rules to provide legal certainty, make competition principles more actionable and develop pro-competitive and innovation-friendly regulations.