Last December, Peter Lee, the head of Microsoft Research, was briefing the company’s CEO Satya Nadella and his team about the results from their tests on OpenAI’s newly released GPT-4, a highly advanced Artificial Intelligence (AI) language model. Their own researchers were impressed by the model’s ability, which showed signs of artificial general intelligence, the same level of intelligence as a human. Nadella was shocked at the outcome since OpenAI had accomplished this feat with just 250 people while Microsoft had a research team that consisted of 1500 people. Nadella questioned why Microsoft even had a research team in the first place.
Microsoft is one of the leading players in the IT sector with its flagship products such as Windows, Office, Skype, and Xbox. Recently, the company has been actively investing in cloud computing, AI, and other technologies to ensure its continual success.
Peter Lee is a seasoned IT and business professional. Since 2002, he has served as the Executive Vice President and Head of Microsoft Research, where he has overseen research efforts, corporate strategy, investments, and advanced development projects across the company. Lee is also known for his prior role as the Deputy Director of DARPA. In 2012, he assumed the position of Corporate Vice President for Microsoft Research, leading efforts around artificial intelligence, autonomous systems, quantum computing, natural language processing, and more.
