Big Tech companies are increasingly employing strategic investments and acquisitions to mitigate the threat of disruptive start-ups. DeepMind, one of the most prominent AI start-ups early on, was acquired by Google. Initially established as a nonprofit organization to challenge Google's dominance, OpenAI has since secured $13 billion in funding from Microsoft. The company Anthropic, which was founded by former OpenAI engineers who were apprehensive about Microsoft's influence, has received $4 billion from Amazon and $2 billion from Google. Microsoft's $650 million licensing agreement with Inflection has recently been the subject of concern, as the company recruits the majority of Inflection's engineering team, thereby generating concerns about potential antitrust violations. The partnership between Microsoft and Inflection has been defended.
In order to acquire a better understanding of competitive threats and to influence their direction, tech giants invest in disruptive start-ups. In the event that these strategies prove unsuccessful, they pursue acquisitions. This approach is emphasized by Mark Zuckerberg's communication prior to Facebook's acquisition of Instagram. The acquisition of start-ups enables technology giants to redirect resources to their innovation efforts, close down their technology, or inadvertently stifle creativity within the acquired teams due to structural obstacles. AI, once considered a disruptive technology, now faces the risk of being reduced to a mere tool for automating search engines, as pioneering startups in its development are increasingly being acquired by Big Tech.
