Altman’s appointment signals a deepening of focus on AI inside Microsoft, more and more AI-centred solutions from Microsoft’s stable in the coming days, as he will lead a new advanced AI research team and will have more resources at his disposal now.
Microsoft has hired Sam Altman to power up its innovation in artificial intelligence (AI) after the renowned CEO and founder of OpenAI was ousted by the company’s board. Efforts by Microsoft to pressurize the board fell into deaf ears. Meanwhile, the current brouhaha surrounding OpenAI is becoming more acute, as the AI pioneer has received three CEO in three days.
“We’re extremely excited to share the news that Sam Altman and Greg Brockman, together with colleagues, will be joining Microsoft to lead a new advanced AI research team. We look forward to moving quickly to provide them with the resources needed for their success.”
Satya Nadela, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Microsoft
Altman’s dismissal on Friday was a great shocker for Microsoft, the startup’s biggest financial backer as well as for the entire AI industry. The dismissal came after what the company said was a “deliberative review process by the board, which concluded that he was not consistently candid in his communications with them, hindering its ability to exercise its responsibilities.”
It’s another major shakeup to the balance of power over artificial intelligence, the most significant new technology in decades.
Greg Brockman, another co-founder and president of OpenAI, is on way to follow Altman and is reportedly joining Microsoft — the startup’s biggest financial backer. Brockmann had put down his papers after Altman was fired.
After efforts repeated efforts failed to convince the OpenAI board, Microsoft decided to take in Altman into its own family. “We’re extremely excited to share the news that Sam Altman and Greg Brockman, together with colleagues, will be joining Microsoft to lead a new advanced AI research team. We look forward to moving quickly to provide them with the resources needed for their success,” announced Satya Nadela, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Microsoft, on X (formerly Twitter).
However, the good news is Microsoft remains committed to OpenAI. “We remain committed to our partnership with OpenAI and have confidence in our product roadmap, our ability to continue to innovate with everything we announced at Microsoft Ignite, and in continuing to support our customers and partners. We look forward to getting to know Emmett Shear and OAI’s new leadership team and working with them,” added Nadella.
OpenAI’s board hired former Twitch chief Emmett Shear as chief executive officer, defying calls from investors to reinstate Altman. Let it be mentioned that Shear had stepped down as CEO of Twitch, a game-streaming site of Amazon.com Inc. OpenAI’d directors are reportedly impressed with Shear;s belief and his past recognition of the existential threats presented by AI.
OpenAI, which took the tech world by storm by creating ChatGPT, constitutes Microsoft’s biggest bet on AI. The $13-billion investment is Microsoft’s big bet on the revolutionary technology. Microsoft owns almost half of the startup. After efforts to reinstate Altman failed, Microsoft’s shares fell on November 17.
What does Altman’s Microsoft stint signal?
With Altman on board, we can expect deeper focus on AI inside Microsoft, more and more AI-centred solutions can be expected from Microsoft’s stable. But it doesn’t at all point to the fact that Microsoft will downsize its involvement with ChatGPT.
