Microsoft is investing $10 billion in OpenAI, whose artificial intelligence tool ChatGPT lit up the internet since its introduction in November, amassing more than a million users within days and touching off a fresh debate over AI in the workplace.
Microsoft, which already plowed $1 billion into OpenAI in 2019 and invested again in 2021, is seeking an inside edge on some of the most popular and advanced artificial intelligence systems as it competes with Alphabet, Amazon and Meta to dominate the fast-growing industry.
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OpenAI needs Microsoft’s funding and cloud-computing power to crunch massive volumes of data and run the increasingly complex models that allow programs like DALL-E to generate realistic images based on a handful of words, and ChatGPT to create astonishingly human-like conversational text in response to prompts or queries.
“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,” Satya Nadella, chairman and chief executive officer of Microsoft, said in a statement, which detailed the investment but didn’t disclose the amount. A person familiar with the discussions, who asked not to be identified because the information isn’t public, said it totals $10 billion over multiple years.
Shares were up 0.5% at $241.52 at 9:56 a.m. in New York.