Ribera will meet with the CEOs of Alphabet, Meta Platforms, OpenAI and Amazon during a trip to the US this week. Ribera is said to be examining the entire AI landscape, including reviewing chatbots, training data and infrastructure. 

The meetings indicate concerns from Ribera over a number of big players controlling too much of the AI market. With the tech giants’ extensive market dominance and resources, there may be a lack of market opportunities for smaller disruptors.

Reports suggest that Ribera’s trip will help in determining whether power is becoming too concentrated and stifling competition. 

The EU brought the Digital Markets Act (DMA) into force in November 2022, to address market “gatekeepers”, and to promote fairer markets in the digital sector. To be classified as a “gatekeeper” organisations had to meet particular criteria such as having more than 45 million monthly users in the EU, and an annual EU turnover exceeding €7.5 billion in the last three financial years. 

Under existing legislation core platform services (CPS) are also prohibited from favouring their own products and services over competitors on their platforms. 

Non-compliance with DMA regulation grants European regulators extraordinary powers of enforcement, which could include fines of up to 20% of total annual turnover, costing companies billions.

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Whilst the DMA currently regulates CPS’ such as search platforms, social media and app stores, and does not apply to AI technologies, regulators are increasingly looking at whether AI-driven services should fall within its scope.

However, some suggest this regulation may put large tech companies off of operating in the EU, and therefore limit consumer access to leading platforms. 

This week’s meetings are hoped to provide valuable insight into how regulators approach the growing influence of AI in the digital sector, safeguard consumer choice and support open markets.