Amazon CEO Andy Jassy on Thursday made a statement against the regulators who. in his opinion, ‘are increasingly blocking mergers, including the company’s planned acquisition of robotic vacuum maker iRobot’, which fell apart earlier this year amid antitrust concerns. 

“I think it’s really kind of a sad story,” Jassy said in an interview with CNBC’s Andrew Ross Sorkin on “Squawk Box” after the Amazon chief released his annual shareholder letter. 

The acquisition stood to give iRobot a competitive boost against rivals, Jassy said, but regulators blocked the deal “because they worry that we’re going to feature our vacuum cleaner, the Roomba, vs. others, which of course, is not our model.” 

Amazon rebuffed its plan to acquire iRobot for $1.7 billion in January after Europe’s antitrust watchdog and the Federal Trade Commission said it raised competition concerns. iRobot laid off 31% of its staff, and its shares have plunged more than 75% this year. 

Jassy said the move showed that regulators “trust these two large Chinese companies with maps of the inside of U.S. consumers’ homes more than they do Amazon.” 

Amazon, Google and Microsoft… anti-trust ‘problems’ 

The robotic vacuum industry has become increasingly crowded in recent years, with companies like China-based Anker, Ecovacs, and Roborock, as well as SharkNinja, eating into iRobot’s once-dominant share of the market. 

The iRobot decision also comes as global regulators have been more aggressive in attempting to block Big Tech companies from expanding further, with the Biden administration making antitrust enforcement in the tech sector a top priority. 

As megadeals have slowed to a crawl, tech companies have made a flurry of investments in artificial intelligence startups, seeking to gain a foothold in the burgeoning market. 

Amazon last month added $2.75 billion to its stake in AI startup Anthropic, which also counts Google as one of its biggest backers. Microsoft has invested billions in OpenAI, the maker of ChatGPT.

Regulators have also zeroed in on these partnerships, with the FTC launching an inquiry into the deals in January.

“I think people don’t know what they can do right now,” Jassy said. He urged regulators to be “more reasonable” in their stance on Big Tech deals. Amazon also faces an ongoing lawsuit by the FTC. The agency sued Amazon in September, accusing it of operating an illegal monopoly that stifles competition and raises prices for consumers while increasing costs for sellers.

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Microsoft might be aiming to buy Mistral AI, the French OpenAI competitor. Following its investment of more than 13 billion dollars (about 11.975 million euros) in OpenAI, the creator of ChatGPT, the technology company has announced a multi-year agreement with the French startup Mistral AI to cooperate in the field of artificial intelligence (AI) and accelerate its growth in this sector.

Specifically, as the two companies explained in a joint statement, the agreement will allow Mistral to offer its Mistral Large AI model to Microsoft's Azure cloud computing platform - where ChatGPT is already hosted - enabling it to "accelerate the development and deployment of the next generation of large language models (LLMs)."

"We are delighted to embark on this partnership with Microsoft. With Azure's cutting-edge AI infrastructure, we reach a new milestone in our expansion to drive our innovative research and practical applications to new customers worldwide. Together, we are committed to driving impactful progress in the AI industry and delivering unparalleled value to our customers and partners worldwide," said Arthur Mensch, CEO of Mistral AI.

The french connection: Azure AI 

The French company will use Azure AI's compute infrastructure to train and deliver models through the Azure Studio and Azure Machine Learning catalog. In addition, Microsoft and Mistral AI will also explore collaboration around specific training models for selected customers, including the European public sector.

Almost simultaneously, the French startup also announced the launch of its own chatbot, Le Chat, in an obvious nod to ChatGPT. For now, Mistral AI has detailed that this is a beta version, clarifying that "there could be peculiarities".

Access to the service is free (for now), and users can choose between three different models: Mistral Small, Large, or Next. However, the company also plans to launch a paid chatbot version for enterprise customers.

Mistral AI was founded in 2023 by researchers coming from Google DeepMind and Meta and is based in Paris. The company has quickly managed to become one of the top-rated AI companies in the world. According to the French newspaper Le Figaro, it is currently valued at around $2 billion (€1,842.9 million).

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Microsoft's computers will have a built-in shortcut key to Copilot, its AI-developed assistant, to make 2024 "the year of AI-powered PCs".

The Copilot key will start to be present on computers running the Windows 11 operating system. Moreover, as can be seen in the image shared by Microsoft, the new Copilot key will take the place of the right Control key on a standard PC keyboard. Specifically, it will be located between the Alt key and the left arrow key.

"The introduction of the Copilot key marks the first significant change to the Windows PC keyboard in nearly three decades," writes Yusuf Mehdi, executive vice president and director of consumer marketing at Microsoft, on the company's blog. "We believe it will allow people to participate in the AI transformation more easily. The Copilot key joins the Windows key as a central part of the PC keyboard and, when pressed, the new key will invoke the Copilot experience in Windows to make it simple to use Copilot in their day-to-day lives," claims Mehdi. 

This is the most significant change in keyboards since the introduction of the Windows key nearly 30 years ago.

2024 will be Microsoft AI year 

In the statement, they have also shared that the Copilot key will be present on keyboards gradually starting in late February on new Windows 11 PC's and its Surface devices. It has further explained that lead times and availability of the Copilot feature vary by market and device, and when Copilot for Windows is not available or enabled, the new key will launch Windows Search.

Microsoft will continue to work in 2024 to stand out in the Artificial Intelligence sector as it has done this year. The company will continue to strengthen its partnerships with OpenAI, which enabled ChatGPT to be integrated with its search engine, and with its partners AMD, Intel, and Qualcomm, with whom it is working to drive new AI applications on Windows processors and cloud.

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Microsoft announced during the Ignite 2023 event a name change for Bing Chat, the AI-powered chatbot introduced earlier this year on Bing, which will now be called Copilot. Likewise, its service for businesses, formerly known as Bing Chat Enterprise, has also undergone this name change.

As explained by TechCrunch, Caitlin Roulston, director of communications at Microsoft: "Changing the name from 'Bing Chat Enterprise' to 'Copilot' reflects our vision of creating a unified Copilot experience for consumers and business customers." However, the American media reflects that this change could be related to the little effect at the traffic level the search engine has had since it incorporated Bing Chat.

Copilot is now accessible on Windows, in addition to Copilot.Microsoft.com and Bing, and ships on various Microsoft business subscription plans (Microsoft 365 E, E5, Business Premium, and Business Standard) at no additional cost. Copilot will be included in Microsoft 365 F3 starting December 1. For all other customers, it will be available a la carte for $5 per month.

Copilot will be bundled with Microsoft 365 

Copilot can now be accessed on Windows in addition to Copilot.Microsoft.com and Bing. This service is offered within various Microsoft business subscription plans (Microsoft 365 E, E5, Business Premium, and Business Standard) at no additional cost. Starting December 1, Copilot will be integrated into Microsoft 365 F3, and for the rest, it will be available through a $5 per month subscription.

The name changes will also affect Microsoft 365 Copilot, which will now be called Copilot for Microsoft 365. In addition, to accompany all these products, both Copilot Studio and Copilot for Service for business users will be launched.

Microsoft Copilot for Microsoft 365 will be widely available to all companies starting in December. Brands already using Copilot are Visa, BP, Honda, and Pfizer, and partners such as Accenture, EY, KPMG, Kyndryl and PwC. 

The new Microsoft 365 Copilot Dashboard will show customers the impact of Copilot on their organization, with information such as the Work Trend Index. Microsoft will also introduce a Copilot Profile, which will help Copilot deliver answers tailored to unique preferences and jobs. To enhance teamwork, new Copilot features in Outlook help prepare for meetings, and during meetings, new whiteboarding and annotation experiences for Copilot in Microsoft Teams keep everyone on the same page.

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OpenAI - the company that created ChatGPT - aims for a valuation of up to $90 billion, specifically, according to The Wall Street Journal. Currently, the firm is seeking investors for a stock placement in which it sets a benchmark valuation between $80 billion and $90 billion.

The newspaper underlines that the shares to be placed would come from those held by OpenAI employees. This would point to significant benefits for Microsoft, which controls 49% of the capital and agreed to an investment in OpenAI last January with a reference valuation of around $30 billion.

According to TWSJ, the company has conveyed to potential investors that it expects to generate revenues of about $1 billion this 2023 and several billion in 2024.

The stock sale deal would amount to several hundred million dollars from minority employee stakes. The valuation would make OpenAI one of the most valuable unlisted technology companies in the world.

OpenAI value was raised by Microsoft 

Recently Microsoft made a  “multiyear, multibillion-dollar” investment in OpenAI valued at over $10 billion. 

Microsoft had already invested more than $3 billion in OpenAI, and the new deal reinforced Microsoft's public stand regarding AI implementation. So far, the company created by Bill Gates truly believes that AI companions and AI tools will be an integral part of our near future. 

In fact, in this same spirit, Microsoft has recently announced the launch of the Copilot AI ecosystem. A full-fledged network of solutions all controlled by the same AI assistant - the eponymous Copilot. The first of these solutions was already presented under the name of Microsoft 365 Chat, aiming at providing support to Microsoft suite users.

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Microsoft has announced the launch of Microsoft 365 Chat, an AI tool that will be an integral part of the new Microsoft Copilot system that is already being integrated into Word, PowerPoint, Excel, Outlook, and Teams to facilitate the daily lives of its users thanks to artificial intelligence and its ability to connect between platforms and others. 

The users will now be able to contact Microsoft 365 Chat AI at any point to receive precise instructions on how to do, fix, or resolve any issue regarding the traditional Office package of software produced by Microsoft. 

Copilot will begin rolling out in the next free Windows 11 update - starting Sept. 26 - and in Bing Edge and Microsoft 365 Copilot this fall. Microsoft has also introduced new experiences and devices to help users be more productive, spark their creativity, and meet the everyday day-to-day needs of both individuals and businesses.

Microsoft 365 Chat will arrive with Windows 11 update

With nearly 150 new features, the upcoming Windows 11 update is one of the most ambitious to date, bringing the power of Copilot and new AI-powered experiences to apps like Paint Photos, Clipchamp, and many more directly to Windows PCs

Bing will support OpenAI's latest DALL.E 3 model and will offer more personalized answers based on a user's search history, a new AI-powered shopping experience, and updates to Bing Chat Enterprise, making it more mobile and visual.

Microsoft 365 Copilot will be generally available to enterprise customers on November 1, 2023, along with Microsoft 365 Chat, a new AI assistant that claims will completely transform how people work.

Bing will receive Copilot functionalities 

Microsoft also introduced new features in Bing and Edge to power users' everyday experience with the most advanced AI capabilities available. Bing Chat can now be used through Microsoft Edge or bing.com/chat. The following features will be rolled out soon:

Personalized answers: chat history can now influence the results. For example, if a user has used Bing to follow the results of their favorite soccer team, the next time they plan a trip, Bing will proactively inform them if that same team is playing at their destination. In case you prefer answers that do not use chat history, it is possible to disable this feature in Bing's settings.

Copilot in Microsoft Shopping: From Bing or Edge, you can find more quickly what you want to buy online. When you request information about an item, Bing will ask additional questions to get more information and then use it to provide more personalized recommendations. 

In addition, users can be confident that they will get the best price: over the past 12 months, consumers have been able to save more than $4 billion with Microsoft Edge. Likewise, it will also be possible to use a photo or a saved image as a reference for shopping.

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The case has been resolved, and the process of becoming part of this massive company in the industry can finally be completed. According to the judge presiding over the case, "Microsoft's acquisition of Activision has been described as the largest in the history of technology."

The consequences of this acquisition will bring about some changes, but Microsoft has everything well secured. For example, they have committed to keeping Call of Duty on PlayStation for another 10 years, alongside Xbox. Additionally, they have agreed with Nintendo to bring the successful game to the Switch.

Those were not the only agreements made; they have also made arrangements to bring Activision Blizzard's content to various cloud gaming services for the first time.

The court decided that the evidence presented by the FTC did not prove their allegation that the merger could reduce competition. Instead, the evidence in the records indicates increased consumer access to Call of Duty and other Activision content.

Activision Blizzard entanglement with PlayStation

The acquisition of Activision Blizzard primarily affects PlayStation but will also impact the gaming world in general.

Since Microsoft will start bringing Call of Duty games to the Switch and other future consoles, they are expected to take advantage of this through cloud-based services or specific and special ports that the company may be working on.

There is still no specific information on what will happen regarding the other franchises owned by Activision Blizzard, including Spyro and Crash Bandicoot. Nevertheless, due to the new and significant relationship, the titles are expected to continue to be available on the platform.

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