Amid growing scrutiny, Microsoft, Apple drop OpenAI board seat plans

In a surprise decision that underscores growing regulatory scrutiny of Big Tech’s influence over artificial intelligence, Microsoft Corp. and Apple Inc. have dropped plans to take board roles at OpenAI. Microsoft, which invested $13 billion in the ChatGPT creator, will withdraw from its observer role on the board. Apple was due to take up a similar role, but now won’t have board observers after Microsoft’s departure.

“Microsoft ‘giving up’ its OpenAI board seat is just another gambit on the chessboard,” said Foxglove director Cori Crider, whose law firm is pushing for more antitrust scrutiny of the relationship. “Big Tech companies know they’re in a cat-and-mouse game with antitrust enforcers over AI.”

Microsoft has integrated OpenAI’s services into its Windows and Copilot AI platforms and, like other big US tech companies, is leveraging the new technology to help drive growth. Regulators in the US and Europe had expressed concerns about Microsoft’s influence over OpenAI, applying pressure on one of the world’s most valuable companies to show that it’s keeping the relationship at arm’s length.

However, the board resignation is unlikely to resolve the US Federal Trade Commission’s concerns about Microsoft’s partnership with OpenAI. Other regulators will likely feel similarly because the change doesn’t alter Microsoft’s close ties to the startup.

In January, the US Federal Trade Commission said it was looking into Microsoft’s investment in OpenAI as part of a broader inquiry into Big Tech companies and their partnerships with AI startups. Separately, the US is looking at whether the company properly notified antitrust agencies about its deal with an OpenAI rival, Inflection AI, sources familiar with the matter have said.