Market Power in Transition: Antitrust in the Age of Digital and AI-Driven Markets
Friday, February 6, 2026 | Marriott Marquis
1535 Broadway, 4th Floor - Wilder and Odets Rooms, New York, NY
The Richard Paul Richman Center for Business, Law, and Public Policy at Columbia University is pleased to host a one-day conference bringing together leading scholars, enforcers, policymakers, and practitioners to examine the implications of digital platforms, AI-driven markets, and evolving forms of market power for antitrust and competition policy.
The program is organized around four interrelated themes reflected across the panels: the role of data, compute, and digital infrastructure in shaping competitive dynamics; the application of antitrust to labor markets; the interaction of state, federal, and international enforcement approaches; and the scope and limits of antitrust in addressing potential harms associated with digital and data-driven markets. Through moderated, cross-disciplinary discussions, the conference aims to assess existing tools, explore areas of debate and uncertainty, and consider how competition law and economic analysis may evolve as markets, technologies, and institutional approaches continue to change.
This event will offer New York CLE credits in the Areas of Professional Practice, Cybersecurity, Privacy and Data Protection, and Ethics.
Organized by Paola Valenti, Columbia Business School and the Richard Paul Richman Center for Business, Law, and Public Policy
Breakfast and Registration
Data, Compute, and Control: Infrastructure Power in the Age of AI
Control over data, cloud infrastructure, and computing capacity is increasingly central to competition in AI-driven markets. This panel examines how access to compute and data shapes innovation, entry, and competitive dynamics, and whether concentration in cloud and AI infrastructure is creating new forms of gatekeeper power. The discussion will also consider the intersection of competition and consumer protection, including issues related to surveillance, lock-in, and limited transparency that may arise in markets shaped by large-scale digital infrastructure.
Antitrust and Labor: Power, Mobility, and Algorithmic Control
Growing evidence of concentration in labor markets has renewed attention to monopsony power, wage suppression, and non-wage restraints. This panel examines how antitrust law and economics may address labor market power as digital platforms and AI-driven systems increasingly shape hiring, pay, and worker mobility. Panelists will discuss the role of mergers, non-competes, information sharing, and algorithmic management, as well as enforcement challenges and the interaction between antitrust, labor regulation—including unions and minimum wage regimes—and broader distributional considerations.
Lunch
State, Federal, and Global Antitrust Enforcement: Competition or Coordination?
As states, federal agencies, and international authorities pursue increasingly ambitious antitrust actions—sometimes in parallel, sometimes in tension—questions of coordination and fragmentation have taken on new urgency. This panel examines how enforcement priorities differ across jurisdictions, how remedies diverge, and what these dynamics imply for digital competition policy in a globalized economy.
Beyond Competition: AI, Digital Platforms, Potential Harm and the Edges of Antitrust
AI systems and data-driven platforms present novel questions that may not always fit neatly within traditional antitrust doctrine. This panel examines emerging debates around manipulation, algorithmic discrimination, surveillance-driven lock-in, predictive pricing, and related practices that challenge established approaches to market power and competitive injury. Panelists will consider the scope and possible limits of the antitrust laws, the potential role of complementary regulatory tools, and how remedies may need to adapt in markets shaped by data, algorithms, and digital infrastructure.
Hotel Information
New York Marriott Marquis
1535 Broadway, 4th Floor - Wilder & Odets Rooms New York, NY