The U.K.'s Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) has cleared Microsoft's hiring of employees from Inflection AI and its partnership with the startup, ruling that the deal does not pose a substantial risk to competition in the chatbot market. Following a probe initiated in July, the CMA determined that Inflection AI had a minimal presence in the UK chatbot sector and that Microsoft's acquisition of certain assets and personnel, including co-founder Mustafa Suleyman, would not significantly diminish competition. The partnership, valued at approximately $650 million, allows Microsoft to access Inflection's AI models while bolstering its own AI consumer unit, led by Suleyman. The CMA highlighted that the transaction does not classify as a significant competitive constraint on Microsoft's existing products, such as Copilot. This decision follows a similar clearance for Microsoft's partnership with another AI firm, Mistral, and reflects ongoing regulatory scrutiny of major tech mergers in the AI space.