The U.S. Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has requested additional details from Amazon regarding its recent hiring of top executives and researchers from the artificial intelligence startup Adept, according to a source familiar with the matter. This request highlights the FTC’s growing concern about how AI-related deals are structured and their implications for competition.

^{FTC’s Growing AI Concerns}

The FTC’s informal inquiry centers on the recent announcement that David Luan, CEO of Adept, along with other key personnel, is joining Amazon. The inquiry also touches on Amazon’s licensing of some of Adept’s technology. While such inquiries do not always lead to formal investigations or enforcement actions, they indicate regulatory interest in the practices of major tech companies.

^{Amazon’s AI Ambitions}

Amazon is intensifying its efforts to compete with Google and Microsoft , both of which have made significant strides in AI. Microsoft, in particular, partners with OpenAI. To enhance its AI capabilities, Amazon has formed the Artificial General Intelligence (AGI) team, focused on developing advanced language models. Luan now leads the “AGI Autonomy” team, comprising many former Adept employees, and reports to Rohit Prasad, head of the AGI team.

^{Adept’s Journey and Amazon’s Strategy}

Founded in 2022, Adept quickly gained attention by raising over $400 million from venture capital investors, aiming to develop large language models for enterprise tasks. Despite being valued at over $1 billion, Adept struggled to release successful commercial products, though it did release some open-source models. The specifics of any compensation to Adept’s investors by Amazon, or the details of the licensing fees, remain undisclosed. Representatives from Amazon, Adept, and the FTC have declined to comment.

^{Broader Regulatory Context}

The FTC’s interest in Amazon’s activities is part of a larger review of AI-related investments and partnerships. A similar inquiry is examining Microsoft’s agreement, which involved hiring much of Inflection AI’s leadership and employees and paying a licensing fee of approximately $650 million. This deal is under scrutiny for potentially bypassing merger disclosure requirements.

Amazon has been actively investing in AI. Since September, the company has invested $4 billion in AI startup Anthropic, securing a minority stake in the San Francisco-based company.

^{Comprehensive AI Market Study}

Earlier this year, the FTC launched a study to gather detailed information on AI partnerships, particularly focusing on Microsoft’s relationship with OpenAI and Anthropic’s collaborations with Google and Amazon. This study aims to understand how these partnerships affect strategic decisions, pricing, access to products and services, and personnel choices.

U.S. antitrust authorities have expressed concerns about Big Tech companies using their AI advancements to stifle smaller competitors. The FTC and the Justice Department are prepared to investigate potential antitrust violations involving companies like Microsoft, OpenAI, and Nvidia.