Microsoft has announced an extension of its partnership with OpenAI, a leading AI startup known for creating impressive AI systems like ChatGPT, DALL-E 2, and GPT-3. This extended partnership will involve a multi-year, multi-billion-dollar investment from Microsoft. While the exact amount of the investment remains undisclosed, it is aimed at supporting OpenAI’s independent research and development of safe, useful, and powerful AI.
This collaboration highlights Microsoft’s commitment to advancing AI technologies and making them available to entities in various industries. Microsoft plans to make OpenAI’s foundational systems accessible as commercial platforms. Additionally, Microsoft will increase its investments in specialized supercomputing systems to accelerate OpenAI’s AI research. The tech giant will also integrate OpenAI’s AI systems with its products and introduce new categories of digital experiences.
Under the extended partnership, Microsoft’s Azure cloud platform will continue to be OpenAI’s exclusive cloud provider, supporting the startup’s research, products, and API services. Microsoft has already incorporated OpenAI’s innovations, such as GPT-3 and DALL-E 2, into its apps and services like Power Apps, Microsoft Edge, and the upcoming Designer.
The collaboration between Microsoft and OpenAI dates back to 2019 when Microsoft initially invested $1 billion in the AI startup to develop new technologies for the Azure platform. In 2020, Microsoft and OpenAI collaborated to build a powerful, Azure-hosted supercomputer. This year, Microsoft launched the Azure OpenAI Service, providing enterprises with access to OpenAI’s AI systems and related features.
OpenAI, as part of the new investment deal, will remain a capped-profit company. This means that investors’ returns are limited to 100 times their investment or potentially less in the future. The partnership aligns with OpenAI’s goal of creating advanced AI that benefits everyone while adhering to responsible AI research practices.
However, Microsoft and OpenAI face legal challenges that could impede their AI endeavors. The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office recently moved to revoke copyright protection for an AI-generated comic, arguing that copyrightable works require human authorship. Additionally, the companies are facing a class-action lawsuit alleging copyright law violations related to OpenAI’s code-generating system, Copilot.
Despite these challenges, the collaboration between Microsoft and OpenAI continues to evolve, driven by a shared ambition to advance cutting-edge AI research and democratize AI as a new technology platform. The extended partnership will empower developers and organizations across industries to harness the best AI infrastructure, models, and toolchains provided by Microsoft’s Azure platform.
