De olho na IA: mais reguladores analisam investimentos em IA

Esta coluna é uma retrospectiva da semana que ocorreu na IA. Leia o anterior SUA PARTICIPAÇÃO FAZ A DIFERENÇA.

Já faz quase um ano desde Microsoft anunciou sua $10 billion megadeal de OpenAI — the biggest startup funding round of 2023 in any sector.

However, it seems like many regulators are just now starting to notice.

In what has been a slow beginning to the new year on the AI and funding news front, the biggest news of the week was that União Européia antitrust regulators are now looking into whether such a deal is subject to its merger rules.

This comes after U.K. regulators last month dito they were exploring whether the partnership violated antitrust laws in that country and after relatórios quebrou que o Federal Trade Commission in the U.S. was looking at similar issues.

Parece que o Sam Altman will-he-stay-will-he-go drama back in November caught many regulators’ eyes as governance questions arose and the company’s atypical nonprofit status came under the spotlight.

While no official probe has been launched in the U.S., it seems like the EU is treading a little heavier, anunciando it will look at competition in the  generative AI market and “into some of the agreements that have been concluded between large digital market players and generative AI developers and providers.”

In that announcement, it explicitly said it will examine whether Microsoft’s investment in OpenAI might be reviewable under its merger regulation — however, it makes clear it will look at other Big Tech companies looking to get ahead in the AI space.

Microsoft, which has a nonvoting position on OpenAI’s board, has maintained it does not own a portion of the startup, but the recent moves and reports about three different regulatory bodies now looking at its investment and partnership with OpenAI must have caught the attention of others.

Will scrutiny force Big Tech to reconsider AI deals?

Chip gigante Nvidia and search powerhouse Google have made numerous investments in AI startups in the past year. While none of those deals were the size and magnitude of Microsoft’s, the recent moves by regulators could force some large strategics to rethink any bigger investment deals they may be planning, as well as any M&A ambitions they may have — knowing governments are looking at deals in the space more closely than ever.

The regulatory news also once again cast a spotlight on the Altman debacle from late November. That little melodrama not only had an impact on OpenAI, but caused officials around the world to take note as it sparked market concerns and now reverberates through the whole sector.

AI produced a lot of headlines in 2023, and the start of this year seems to foreshadow more of the same in 2024.

Coisas que chamaram nossa atenção e outras coisas:

Funding announcements have been slow so far this new year in AI. However, there were a couple in the last week related to health that caught our attention.

• First, Paris-based startup Nabla locked up a $24 million Series B led by Inovação Catai. The startup has created an AI copilot for doctors that takes notes for them and streamlines writing medical reports. The health care world is full of inefficiencies, costing not just time but also quality care. Freeing up some more time for doctors is beneficial to everyone.
• Outcomes of drug trials can be hard to predict — which is why they need to be done. QuantSaúde is looking to help with that. The Israel-based startup uses AI to predict trial outcomes — which can lower potential costs of drug discovery. QuantHealth raised fresh cash this week from Accenture Ventures. While no financial details of that raise were released, the company said its Series A totaled $17 million after announcing $15 million of it last year.

Ilustração: Dom Guzmán