Microsoft’s relationship with OpenAI has officially become more complex.
In its latest annual report, Microsoft has added the artificial intelligence startup to the list of competitors, which has traditionally included tech giants like Amazon, Apple, Google, and Meta.
Microsoft has a long-standing partnership with OpenAI, serving as its exclusive cloud provider and utilizing its AI models in products for commercial and consumer clients. The company is OpenAI’s largest investor, having reportedly contributed $13 billion to the company.
However, the new filing suggests they are encroaching on each other’s domains. In the filing, Microsoft identified OpenAI, the creator of the ChatGPT chatbot, as a competitor in AI offerings, search, and news advertising. Last week, OpenAI announced a prototype of a search engine called SearchGPT.
Some companies opt to pay OpenAI for access to its models, while others go through Microsoft’s Azure OpenAI Service.
For those seeking an alternative to ChatGPT, Microsoft’s Copilot chatbot is also available through the Bing search engine and in Windows operating systems.
An OpenAI spokesperson stated that their partnership with Microsoft remains unchanged and that they were expected to compete. Nevertheless, it has been an eventful year.
Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella was reportedly not informed before OpenAI’s board removed CEO Sam Altman in November.
After Altman was quickly reinstated, OpenAI gave Microsoft a non-voting board seat, which Microsoft relinquished earlier this month.
In March, Nadella hired Mustafa Suleyman, a co-founder of DeepMind, to lead a new unit called Microsoft AI, and several Inflection employees joined him. Nadella remains close to Altman, who frequently asks Nadella for more resources.
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