UK competition watchdog clears Microsoft's hiring of AI startup's core staff

British regulators have cleared Microsoft’s hiring of key staff from startup Inflection AI, saying the deal wouldn’t stifle competition in the country’s artificial intelligence market. The Competition and Markets Authority had opened a preliminary investigation into Microsoft’s recruitment of Inflection’s core team, including CEO Mustafa Suleyman, the chief scientist and several top engineers and researchers. Big technology companies have been facing scrutiny on both sides of the Atlantic lately for gobbling up talent and products at innovative AI startups without formally acquiring them.