The move from the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) follows its initial report on AI Foundation Models (FMs) last year. The report proposed a set of principles to help sustain innovation and guide these markets toward positive outcomes for businesses, consumers, and the wider economy.
Speaking at a conference in Washington DC, Chief Executive Officer Sarah Cardell shared highlights from the CMA’s update to its FMs work. In her remarks, Sarah Cardell describes the transformative promise of FMs as a potential “paradigm shift” for societies and economies. She also outlines a range of fast-moving developments across FM markets which, underpinned by the CMA’s deepening understanding of the FM ecosystem, have prompted a marked increase in concern.
The speech highlights the growing presence across FM markets of a small number of incumbent technology firms which already hold positions of market power in many of today’s most important digital markets. The firms have strong positions in both the development of FMs (including through the supply of critical inputs like compute, data, and talent), and in the deployment of models, through key access points or routes to market, like apps and platforms.
