Source: Wall Street See
Author: Long Yue.
The method of "poaching and licensing technology" seems to be the new trend for US technology giants to seize the AI market and evade regulation. With Microsoft's acquisition of InflectionAI as a precursor, Amazon has also chosen to enter the AI field using this new model.
There are policies at the top and countermeasures at the bottom. In order to avoid antitrust review, AI giants have developed a new M&A model.
Last week, Amazon poached the core talents of Adept, a potential competitor of OpenAI, and reached a technical authorization agreement with the company.
Amazon has hired the founder of Adept to join the team and has employed nearly 66% of Adept's employees. Rohit Prasad, Senior Vice President of Amazon, said that just like Microsoft's acquisition of Inflection, Amazon will also authorize Adept's technology to "accelerate our roadmap to establish digital agents and automate software workflows."
Adept is operated by former OpenAI and Google AI developers and has raised about $400 million from top US investors.
It's worth noting that Amazon did not acquire Adept directly, and this approach is similar to Microsoft and startup InflectionAI. In March of this year, InflectionAI's founder and core team members were also poached by Microsoft and joined its newly established department, MicrosoftAI. The two companies also signed a technology authorization agreement.
"Poaching people and authorizing technology" seems to be a new model for major American technology companies to develop their AI territory. The Verge, a US technology media outlet, called this approach a "reverse acquisition." Microsoft and Amazon's approach is a new strategy for large technology companies to layout AI and evade regulation.
In the past, the usual way for technology giants in Silicon Valley to fill their own shortcomings was to directly acquire small companies in related fields and poach team members, and then the fate of the small company was to "wait for death." However, in recent years, the direct acquisition model has often triggered antitrust reviews by regulatory agencies.
More and more technology giants are controlling AI products, technology or core personnel by investing in AI startups, establishing strategic partnerships, and employing teams, while also avoiding restrictions from antitrust regulations due to excessive control.
Currently, large technology companies such as Microsoft are facing strict antitrust reviews. In January of this year, the US Federal Trade Commission said it would launch an investigation into the $13 billion cooperation between Microsoft and OpenAI. Due to the US government's concern about the concentration of power in the AI market, if Microsoft directly acquires Inflection, it may face regulatory challenges.
The Verge said that the current anti-monopoly enforcement mechanism in the United States will certainly try to prevent Amazon's acquisition of Adept, regardless of whether it has a strong legal basis. Therefore, Amazon has also chosen a similar path to Microsoft.
Reid Hoffman, co-founder of LinkedIn and American entrepreneur, recently predicted that Microsoft's approach of partnering with Inflection will become a new model for future AI transactions, and what we see now is this model.
Editor/Jeffy