When using AI chatbots like Google’s Bard or OpenAI’s ChatGPT, you engage with the result of engineering, training data, semiconductor chips, and cloud platforms. Cloud services have become a crucial part of AI development, as they provide processing power and storage for training data. Companies like Amazon, Microsoft, and Google dominate the cloud market, leading to concerns about their influence on AI. Critics worry about inflated pricing, anticompetitive practices, and their impact on the AI industry. The public cloud market is expected to grow, with AI accounting for a significant portion of spending. Government regulators, including the FTC and President Biden, have raised concerns about competition in cloud markets. Exclusive agreements between AI companies and cloud providers have attracted scrutiny, as they can limit competition and discourage switching providers. Other practices under scrutiny include data withdrawal fees. Cloud providers argue that the market is competitive, and they offer negotiations with customers. However, policymakers are concerned about the concentration of power in the market.
