Microsoft has announced that it is making a “multiyear, multibillion dollar investment” in OpenAI, a San Francisco-based artificial intelligence startup. This is the third stage of a partnership between the two companies that began with a $1 billion investment by Microsoft in 2019. The exact amount of the latest investment has not been disclosed.
OpenAI is the creator of ChatGPT, a free writing tool that has brought attention to new advances in AI. Based on a broad database of digital books, online writings, and other resources, ChatGPT can converse, generate readable text on demand, and even produce novel and video scripts. The tool was launched on November 30th, and it has been well-received by the public.
In December 2015, OpenAI was founded as a nonprofit artificial intelligence research company. A co-chair and early investor of the organization was Tesla CEO Elon Musk, whose stated goals included “advance digital intelligence in the way that is most likely to benefit humanity as a whole, unconstrained by a need to generate financial return.”
After releasing its first generation of the GPT model for generating human-like paragraphs of readable text, OpenAI incorporated a for-profit business, OpenAI LP, and shifted nearly all of its staff into the company. Musk left its board in 2018.
Is this how Microsoft beats Google?
The company wants to compete with other tech giants in the AI space. Artificial intelligence is already heavily invested in by notable competitors like Google and Amazon. Google uses AI in its Maps product, and Amazon uses AI for a variety of its products, from its online commerce platform to its Alexa home assistant.
By incorporating ChatGPT into Bing, Microsoft hopes to compete with Google and provide more accurate and helpful search results. Bing currently only has a tiny fraction of market share compared to Google. Adding ChatGPT to Microsoft’s existing product line would be an excellent idea, according to analysts. Microsoft Office products and the Azure cloud platform could benefit from the AI-powered tool.
How is Microsoft involved in AI?
Azure already offers a wide range of AI-related services. Additionally, Meta and the company announced a partnership to provide the workplace of the future. With Microsoft Designer, users can create graphics from scratch and social media images using artificial intelligence.
What’s Next for OpenAI?
OpenAI is planning to change its chatbot and monetize it in the near future, possibly by releasing a premium version called ChatGPT Professional. The ChatGPT Professional version would have no unavailability windows, faster responses (no throttling) and allow for as many messages as needed. The pricing for the premium product has not been announced yet as the company is still figuring out the details.
A vast database of digital books, articles online, and other media can also be tapped into by OpenAI’s other tools, like DALL-E.
Microsoft’s investment in OpenAI is a strategic move to stay competitive in the rapidly advancing field of AI and to potentially integrate OpenAI’s technology into its existing product offerings. This investment also aligns with Microsoft’s overall focus on AI and its goal to democratize AI and make it accessible to everyone.
