智通财经网·2025-10-14 08:57Core Points - Microsoft is facing a new consumer class-action lawsuit alleging that it illegally inflated the market prices of generative AI products through a secret agreement with OpenAI [1] - The lawsuit claims that Microsoft's exclusive cloud computing partnership with OpenAI limited the supply of computing resources necessary for running ChatGPT, harming millions of users [1][3] - The lawsuit cites violations of federal antitrust laws due to Microsoft's actions that restricted market competition and artificially raised subscription prices for ChatGPT [1][3] Company and Industry Summary - Microsoft has invested over $13 billion in OpenAI, with the initial investment of $1 billion announced in 2019, establishing a long-term partnership to develop AI supercomputing technologies on the Azure cloud platform [2][3] - The lawsuit indicates that Microsoft has profited from OpenAI's success while simultaneously developing its own competitive products, including the AI platform Copilot [3] - The lawsuit also mentions that the pricing of ChatGPT has been significantly higher than competing products during the industry's price war earlier this year [3][4] - It is noted that restrictions on OpenAI were partially lifted after it began sourcing computing power from Google in June [4]