By Spy Uganda
Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella has accused Google of โlocking upโ the content that โfeedsโ developing large language models (LLMs) during his testimony at Googleโs ongoing antitrust trial in Washington DC.
The landmark US trial against Google, is the first major antitrust case brought by the US since it sued Microsoft in 1998 and is viewed by many as an inflection point for Big Tech dominance.
Google already stands accused of monopolising the internet by unfairly dominating competition from other search engines by paying billions of dollars to Samsung and Apple to ensure Googleโs place as the default web browser on many smartphones.
In his testimony yesterday (2 October), Nadella stated that Google had also divided up online content via these same default agreements with in expensive and exclusive deals with publishers.
Nadellaโs statements were made in response to Judge Amit Mehtaโs inquiry as to whether AI could level the playing field between Google and its competitors.
Microsoft has already invested more than $10bn into OpenAIโs LLM ChatGPT, whose release to the public back in November 2022 is often credited as the reason for AIโs subsequent coverage and investment boom.
However, Googleโs billion dollar deals with content providers could curb the data available to train ChatGPT.
โWhen I am meeting with publishers now, they say Googleโs going to write this check and its exclusive and you have to match it,โ Nadella reportedly stated in court.
Speaking on Nadellaโs comments, senior analyst at GlobalData Beatriz Valle agrees that Google โabsolutely dominatesโ its competitors, however, does admit that Microsoftโs accusations feel potentially hypocritical.
โNadellaโs comments on training of LLMs on Googleโs content are hardly surprising: since Microsoft added GenAI capabilities to Bing in February, the two companies have been locked in a battle for dominance of the search engine marketโ Valle explains.
Whilst Microsoft has invested copious amounts of dollars into ChatGPT to try and gain an upper hand on Google, Valle points out that Google has also invested money into creating the dominating LLMs of today.
โMarket forces are at play here, and it is becoming apparent during this trial that Googleโs search dominance is down to user choice as well as business practices,โ she adds.
โAlso, we are not comparing apples with apples here: Microsoft has promoted Bing as an AI-powered chatbot because, letโs be honest, as a search engine it cannot really compete against Googleโs,โ she continues.
Whilst Valle admits that Google leads over Microsoftโs search engine, she does state that Google has been โshyโ in incorporating its Bard LLM into Google Search.
โMicrosoft seems to hold the competitive advantage in this area,โ she concludes, โbecause it controls OpenAIโs powerful LLM, so I really donโt get why Nadella complains about content to train LLMs as GPT-4 is known to be the most powerful LLM today.โ
