Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella speaks at the company’s Ignite Spotlight event in Seoul on November 15, 2022.
SeongJoon Cho | Bloomberg | Getty Images
Microsoft announced a new multi-year, multibillion-dollar investment with ChatGPT creator OpenAI on Monday.
Microsoft declined to provide a specific dollar amount, but Semafor reported earlier this month that Microsoft was in talks to invest up to $10 billion.
The deal marks the third phase of the partnership between the two companies, following Microsoft’s previous investments in 2019 and 2021. Microsoft said the renewed partnership will accelerate breakthroughs in AI and help both companies commercialize advanced technologies in the future.
“We formed our partnership with OpenAI around a shared ambition to responsibly advance cutting-edge AI research and democratize AI as a new technology platform,” Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella said in the announcement.
OpenAI works closely with Microsoft’s Azure cloud service. In July 2019, Microsoft backed OpenAI with $1 billion, and the investment made Microsoft the “exclusive” provider of cloud computing services for OpenAI. Microsoft said Monday that Azure will continue to serve as the exclusive provider of OpenAI.
Microsoft’s investment will also help both companies engage with supercomputing at scale and create new experiences powered by AI, the announcement said.
OpenAI has been ranked by AI researchers as one of the top three AI labs in the world, and the company has developed gaming AI software that can beat humans in video games like Dota 2. However, it may have received more attention for its AI text generator GPT -3 and its strange AI image generator Dall-E.
ChatGPT automatically generates text based on written prompts in a way that is far more advanced and creative than the chatbots of Silicon Valley’s past. The software debuted in late November and quickly became a viral sensation as tech executives and venture capitalists raved about it on Twitter, even comparing it to Apple’s iPhone debut in 2007.
The technology has also caught the attention of Google executives, who said at a recent all-hands meeting that while it has similar AI capabilities, Google’s reputation could suffer if it moves too quickly with AI chat technology.
OpenAI’s founders include Sam Altman, Tesla and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk, Greg Brockman, Ilya Sutzkever, Wojciech Zaremba and John Shulman. The group has pledged to invest over $1 billion in the venture when it launches. Musk resigned from the board in February 2018 but remained a donor.
— CNBC’s Jonathan Vanian and Jennifer Elias contributed to this report
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