Microsoft announced a significant, multi-year investment in OpenAI, the company that developed ChatGPT, on Monday.
The exact amount of the investment has not been disclosed, but it is reported to be around $10 billion.
This is the third phase of the partnership between the two companies, which began with Microsoft’s investment in OpenAI in 2019.
The renewed partnership aims to accelerate advancements in AI and commercialize advanced technologies.
OpenAI works closely with Microsoft’s cloud service Azure, and in 2019, Microsoft backed OpenAI with $1 billion, making Microsoft the exclusive provider of cloud computing services to OpenAI.
Microsoft announced that Azure will continue to serve as OpenAI’s exclusive provider.
Microsoft’s investment will also help the two companies engage in supercomputing at scale and create new AI-powered experiences, according to a press release.
OpenAI is considered one of the top AI labs in the world, known for its GPT-3 text generator and Dall-E image generator, but also for its game-playing AI software that can beat humans at video games such as Dota 2.
The company was founded by Sam Altman, Tesla and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk, Greg Brockman, Ilya Sutskever, Wojciech Zaremba, and John Schulman.
The group pledged to invest over $1 billion into the venture when it launched. Musk resigned from the board in February 2018 but remained a donor.
ChatGPT, the software developed by OpenAI, automatically generates text based on written prompts in a fashion that’s much more advanced and creative than the chatbots of Silicon Valley’s past.
The software debuted in late November and quickly turned into a viral sensation as tech executives and venture capitalists gushed about it on Twitter, even comparing it to Apple’s debut of the iPhone in 2007.
The technology also caught the attention of Google executives, who said in a recent all-hands meeting that while Google has similar AI capabilities, its reputation could suffer if it moves too fast on AI chat technology.
With this latest investment, Microsoft and OpenAI will continue to work together towards their shared ambition of responsibly advancing cutting-edge AI research and democratizing AI as a new technology platform.
Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella mentioned in a blog post “We are excited to take our partnership with OpenAI to the next level and bring the power of AI to more people and organizations around the world”.
This new investment will undoubtedly play a crucial role in achieving their goal and pushing the boundaries of AI development.
