Microsoft Announces New Investment in OpenAI, ChatGPT Maker

Microsoft has announced a new multiyear investment with OpenAI, the company behind the ChatGPT chatbot.

The investment is worth billions of dollars and will help OpenAI continue its work in artificial intelligence.

Microsoft has not disclosed how much it is planning to invest in Semafor, but the company has been in talks to invest up to $10 billion, according to a report from earlier this month.

The new deal between Microsoft and OpenAI marks the third phase of their partnership. This follows Microsoft's previous investments in OpenAI in 2019 and 2021. Microsoft believes that the renewed partnership will help accelerate breakthroughs in artificial intelligence (AI) and enable both companies to commercialize advanced technologies in the future.

Microsoft and OpenAI have formed a partnership with the shared goal of advancing AI research and making it more accessible to everyone. This technology has the potential to transform many industries and Microsoft is committed to helping make that happen.

OpenAI has a close relationship with Microsoft's cloud service Azure. In July 2019, Microsoft invested $1 billion in OpenAI, making Microsoft the "exclusive" provider of cloud computing services to OpenAI. Microsoft said Monday that Azure will continue to serve as OpenAI's exclusive provider.

Microsoft's investment will help the two companies engage in supercomputing at scale and create new AI-powered experiences, the release said. This will allow them to develop new and innovative ways to improve the customer experience and create new opportunities for businesses.

OpenAI is a leading AI research lab that has developed game-playing AI software that can beat humans at video games such as Dota 2. However, the company has arguably received more attention for its AI text generator GPT-3 and its quirky AI image generator Dall-E.

ChatGPT is a cutting-edge chatbot that can generate text based on written prompts. The software made its debut in late November and quickly became a viral sensation, with tech executives and venture capitalists gushing about it on Twitter. Some even compared it to Apple's debut of the iPhone in 2007.

The technology also caught the attention of Google executives, who said in a recent all-hands meeting that while Google has similar AI capabilities, its reputation could suffer if it moves too fast on AI chat technology. Google executives are aware of the company's potential to become a leader in AI chat technology, but they are also mindful of the need to tread carefully in order to maintain a positive reputation.

OpenAI was founded by Sam Altman, Tesla and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk, Greg Brockman, Ilya Sutskever, Wojciech Zaremba and John Schulman. The group pledged to invest over $1 billion into the venture when it launched. Musk resigned from the board in February 2018 but remained a donor.