Asia Tech Wire (July 31) -- Britain's antitrust regulator said Tuesday it is investigating whether Google's partnership with U.S. artificial intelligence startup Anthropic has reduced competition in the market.

The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) said it had invited any stakeholders to comment on the matter in order to assist in its assessment, before the formal investigation begins.

An Anthropic spokesperson told CNBC that the company will work with the CMA to provide them with a full picture of Google's investments and business partnerships.

Last October, Google agreed to invest up to $2 billion in Anthropic, including a $500 million upfront cash infusion and a $1.5 billion follow-on investment.

Anthropic is the developer of Claude, a rival chatbot to OpenAI's ChatGPT.