Microsoft CEO attacks Google for having a monopoly on training content for AI

In a US antitrust trial against Google, Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella raised concerns and highlighted the battle between digital behemoths to gather content for artificial intelligence training. Nadella criticized Google's approach of negotiating pricey and exclusive content agreements with publishers. He made a comparison between the haste to create content libraries and the beginnings of distribution agreements. 

Distribution agreements are at the core of the U.S. Justice Department's antitrust fight against Google. The government says that Google, with some 90% of the search market, illegally pays $10 billion annually to smartphone makers like Apple and wireless carriers like AT&T and others to be the default search engine on their devices. The clout in search makes Google a heavy hitter in the lucrative advertising market, boosting its profits. 

Nadella said building artificial intelligence took computing power, or servers, and data to train the software. On servers, he said: "No problem, we are happy to put in the dollars." 

But without naming Google, he said it was "problematic" if other companies locked up exclusive deals with big content makers. 

"When I am meeting with publishers now, they say Google's going to write this check and it's exclusive and you have to match it," he said.