British regulators have initiated a preliminary investigation after Microsoft hired key staff from an AI startup, Inflection AI. Concerns are that this act could thwart competition in the booming artificial intelligence market.

The Competition and Markets Authority said its review of the hirings from Inflection AI, including its co-founder and CEO Mustafa Suleyman, turned up “sufficient information” to open an investigation.

Earlier this year, Microsoft hired Suleyman to boost its consumer AI business, along with several top researchers and engineers. Then, Suleyman co-founded the AI research lab DeepMind, now owned by Google, before setting up Inflection, and he is considered an influential figure in the AI world.

The watchdog has hinted at its assessment of whether the hirings lean towards a merger that could result in “a substantial lessening of competition” in the UK’s AI market, in breach of the country’s antitrust rules.

However, Microsoft has notably responded, saying, “We are confident that the hiring of talent promotes competition and should not be treated as a merger.”

“We will provide the UK Competition and Markets Authority with the information it needs to complete its inquiries expeditiously,” the tech giant added.

Reportedly, the British watchdog has until Sept. 11 to decide whether to give its approval or escalate the probe into an in-depth investigation. The authority has the power to reverse deals or impose fixes to address competition concerns.

Massive technology companies continue to poach talent from innovative startups without formally acquiring them. Addressing the concern, three members of the U.S. Senate wrote to the antitrust enforcers at the Justice Department and Federal Trade Commission, urging them to investigate Amazon’s deal with San Francisco-based Adept.

The Senators noted that the FTC is already looking into the Microsoft Inflection deal, describing it as strikingly similar to the one between Amazon and Adept, which will also lure in Adept’s CEO and key employees into Amazon.