ChatGPT, Bard & Co.: An Introduction to AI for Competition and Regulatory Lawyers

Abstract

Having its first commercial breakthrough with ChatGPT, in 2023 artificial intelligence (AI) has rung in the fourth industrial revolution. This article outlines the technicalities and economics underlying generative AI, and what they mean for competition in digital markets and for antitrust and regulatory lawyers working in this field. It concludes that due to the high barriers to entry at the (i) computing, (ii) data creation, and (iii) foundation modelling layers, the rise of AI is likely to make incumbent tech conglomerates even more powerful and less contestable, which will have to be considered in any future economic regulation of AI.

Keywords: antitrust, competition, artificial intelligence, economic regulation, ChatGPT, big tech, Google, Microsoft, Amazon, Meta, chatbots, abuse of dominance

JEL Classification: K21, L12, L41, L86, M37, 031