Microsoft has confirmed a new multiyear, multi-billion estment in ChatGPT-maker OpenAI.
The tech giant has not provided a specific dollar amount, but recent industry reports earlier this month noted Microsoft was in talks to invest as much as $10 billion.
“We formed our partnership with OpenAI around a shared ambition to responsibly advance cutting-edge AI research and democratise AI as a new technology platform,” Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella said in a blog post.
The agreement signifies the next step in the collaboration between the two firms. In 2019, Microsoft invested $1 billion in OpenAI in order to gain an advantage in some of the most widely used and advanced AI systems as it competes with companies like Alphabet, Amazon and Meta amid a rapidly expanding industry. In line with the deal, Microsoft also became the sole provider of cloud computing services to OpenAI.
As part of the enhanced partnership, Microsoft also announced that Azure will continue to serve as the exclusive cloud provider for OpenAI. In addition, Microsoft highlighted that the renewed partnership will hasten advancements in AI and enable both companies to monetise cutting-edge technologies in the future.
“In this next phase of our partnership, developers and organisations across industries will have access to the best AI infrastructure, models, and toolchain with Azure to build and run their applications,” added Nadella.
ChatGPT generates text in a more sophisticated way compared to the chatbots of the past, based on the written prompts provided. The software was launched in late November and quickly became popular.
“The past three years of our partnership have been great,” said Sam Altman, CEO of OpenAI. “Microsoft shares our values and we are excited to continue our independent research and work toward creating advanced AI that benefits everyone.”
OpenAI is widely considered by AI experts to be among the top three AI research labs globally. The company has created AI software for video games such as Dota 2 that can defeat human players. However, it has received more recognition for its AI text generator GPT-3 and its unique AI image generator Dall-E.
