Introduction to Artificial Intelligence and Competition Policy
Setting the Stage
It’s Friday night, 7:00 pm. You have two tickets to the New York Metropolitan Opera House. As you make your way to your front-row seats, you take in the elegant crowd and prepare for a magical evening. To your surprise, a speaker comes to announce that tonight’s conductor will be a robot powered by artificial intelligence (AI). Curious and slightly nervous, you are intrigued. The orchestra begins with the repertoire of Verdi and Léo Delibes, producing harmonious music. But it soon transitions into playing dissonant free jazz pieces by Sun Ra and Ornette Coleman.
This book in your hands explores the wide-ranging effects of AI on competition law. Several contributions assign AI the role of an orchestra conductor fine-tuning the performance of each player. They detail how AI reinforces the positions of large technology companies in the intricate symphony of the global economy. Or is that so? AI can also act as an agent of chaos. Other contributions explore how AI can accelerate disruption, challenging and breaking free from the harmonious patterns of the structure-conduct-performance paradigm. They illustrate how AI dismantles barriers to entry and empowers startups to deviate from traditional frameworks. Like a free jazz musician, AI fosters unpredictable (market) outcomes.
The positioning of competition agencies within these musical ensembles is yet to be defined. Artificial Intelligence and Competition Policy sheds some light on the stage, providing insights for anyone interested in the transformative impact it may foster on the melody of digital markets.