Microsoft Corporation (MSFT) Sued by Consumers in Antitrust Class Action over OpenAI Deal

Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) is among the 14 Best Big Name Stocks to Invest in Right Now. According to a report by Reuters on Monday, the company has been sued by consumers for allegedly illegally inflating prices for generative AI under a secret agreement with OpenAI.

The proposed class action has been filed in San Francisco’s federal court. It claims that the technology giant leveraged an exclusive cloud computing deal with the ChatGPT maker to restrict the supply of computational resources required to run the AI chatbot.

The lawsuit said the deal, which Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) struck in the early days of OpenAI’s development, was in violation of the federal antitrust law, as it restrained competition and resulted in artificially driving up ChatGPT’s subscription prices, while impacting the product quality for millions of users of the platform.

The lawsuit further mentioned that while the alleged restraints on OpenAI have eased, they remain as ‘a sword of Damocles over OpenAI wielded by one of its principal competitors’. It also alleged that Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) exploited its agreement with OpenAI to capitalize on its success, while simultaneously building its own rival products, such as Copilot.

In a statement, Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) said that it was reviewing the lawsuit and added that it believes the OpenAI partnership promotes innovation, competition, and responsible AI development.

Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) is a technology company best known for its operating systems and software products. It has invested over $13 billion in OpenAI to date.

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