U.K. antitrust officials said they were probing whether Alphabet-owned Google’s investment in artificial-intelligence startup Anthropic poses a threat to competition, a setback for the search-engine giant after British regulators cleared a similar partnership between Amazon.

Google’s partnership with AI firm Anthropic is at risk of being derailed in the UK after the competition watchdog called for further investigation of the pact’s potential impact.

Britain’s competition watchdog said Thursday it's opening a formal investigation into Google’s partnership with artificial intelligence startup Anthropic. The Competition and Markets Authority said it has “sufficient information” to launch an initial probe after it sought input earlier this year on whether the deal would stifle

The U.K.’s Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) is launching a formal probe into Alphabet's investment in AI rival, Anthropic.

The UK’s competition regulator is investigating whether Alphabet’s $2.3 billion investment in AI startup Anthropic harms UK competition. The CMA will open its preliminary probe on Friday.

Google's partnership with the artificial intelligence (AI) startup Anthropic faces a formal UK competition investigation. The UK's Competition and Markets Authority said it has “sufficient information” to launch an initial probe. When it comes to professional work, Europe is recognised for having one of the most favourable approaches globally.

Britain's antitrust watchdog launched a probe on Thursday into Google parent Alphabet's partnership with artificial intelligence startup Anthropic. Almost two years after Microsoft-backed OpenAI triggered an AI boom with the release of ChatGPT,