is ‘Unfortunate’ Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella Calls Google’s Restriction of Content for AI Training ‘Unfortunate’

Microsoft chief executive Satya Nadella expressed his concern on Monday about tech giants competing for access to vast amounts of content required to train artificial intelligence. He specifically criticized Google for locking up content through expensive and exclusive deals with publishers.

Nadella made these remarks while testifying in a landmark antitrust case brought against Google by the US government. The case focuses on Google’s distribution agreements, with the government arguing that the company illegally pays billions of dollars annually to smartphone manufacturers and wireless carriers to be the default search engine on their devices, thus solidifying its dominance in the search market and boosting its advertising profits.

According to Nadella, building artificial intelligence requires significant computing power and data to train the software, which Microsoft is willing to invest in. However, he criticized other companies, without explicitly naming Google, for entering into exclusive deals with major content creators. He cited instances in which publishers mentioned that Google had offered them exclusive deals, making it difficult for other companies to compete.

During his testimony, Nadella also revealed that Microsoft had tried to make its Bing search engine the default on Apple smartphones but was rejected. The lead lawyer for Google questioned Nadella about Bing’s inability to gain a foothold in the search market, pointing out strategic errors made by Microsoft, such as a lack of investment in servers and engineers to improve Bing and a failure to anticipate the rise of mobile devices.

Judge Amit Mehta, presiding over the case, raised the question of why Apple would switch to Bing when Google’s search engine is perceived to have better quality. This suggests that the judge is considering Google’s argument that its dominance is a result of superior quality rather than anticompetitive practices.

Nadella became CEO of Microsoft in 2014, long after the company faced its own antitrust lawsuit in 1998. The settlement of that lawsuit led to the emergence of competitors like Google.

Both Microsoft and Google have become fierce rivals in various areas, including artificial intelligence. Microsoft has heavily invested in OpenAI, while Google has developed the Bard AI chatbot and made other related investments.

It remains to be seen how the US District Court for the District of Columbia will rule on this major antitrust case against Google.