{"id":86740,"date":"2023-01-24T17:21:37","date_gmt":"2023-01-24T17:21:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.techrepublic.com\/?p=4027092"},"modified":"2023-01-24T17:21:37","modified_gmt":"2023-01-24T17:21:37","slug":"microsoft-makes-multi-billion-dollar-investment-in-chatgpt-owner-openai","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cloudnewshub.com\/?p=86740","title":{"rendered":"Microsoft makes multi-billion dollar investment in ChatGPT-owner OpenAI"},"content":{"rendered":"
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This round of investment will help OpenAI\u2019s research in AI and seek to position Azure OpenAI services for new AI-powered experiences. <\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Image: gguy\/Adobe Stock<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The talk about OpenAI and how the company\u2019s release of ChatGPT will improve human-to-computer interaction has raged on in recent weeks. The conversation has sparked global interest in artificial intelligence<\/a>, and Microsoft is showing plenty of ambition as it aims to dominate the AI services market.<\/p>\n

The tech giant has announced a broader partnership deal in the form of a multibillion-dollar investment in OpenAI. There are no official details, but some mainstream media sites put the figure at $10 billion. The announcement comes weeks after Microsoft launched its expanded Azure OpenAI services<\/a>.<\/p>\n

According to Microsoft, this latest investment is the third phase of an ongoing collaboration following the company\u2019s investments in OpenAI\u2019s supercomputing and research in 2019 ($1 billion) and 2021. The tech firm reckons this move will help advance breakthroughs in AI and position both companies in the advanced technologies market.<\/p>\n

SEE: Artificial Intelligence Ethics Policy<\/a> (TechRepublic Premium)<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cWe formed our partnership with OpenAI around a shared ambition to advance cutting-edge AI research and democratize AI as a new technology platform,\u201d said Satya Nadella, chairman and CEO at Microsoft. \u201cIn this next phase of our partnership, developers and organizations across industries will have access to the best AI infrastructure, models, and toolchain with Azure to build and run their applications.\u201d<\/p>\n

Sam Altman, CEO of OpenAI, further shares his excitement about OpenAI\u2019s continued partnership with Microsoft as an opportunity to \u201ccontinue our independent research and work toward creating advanced AI that benefits everyone\u201d with a company that shares its values.<\/p>\n

Microsoft\u2019s investment in focus<\/h2>\n

Supercomputing at scale<\/h3>\n

Microsoft aims to be part of the conversation in OpenAI\u2019s independent AI research. To achieve this, the company will increase its investments and deployment of specialized supercomputing infrastructure in OpenAI research in AI. This will also entail developing Azure AI infrastructure to enable Azure customers to create and deploy AI applications on a global scale.<\/p>\n

New AI-powered experiences<\/h3>\n

This new development will see Microsoft deploy OpenAI\u2019s models across its consumer and enterprise products to forge new layers of digital experience powered by OpenAI\u2019s technology. One notable product that will be taking effect is Microsoft\u2019s Azure OpenAI Service<\/a>, which enables developers to create AI applications through direct access to OpenAI models backed by Azure\u2019s infrastructure.<\/p>\n

Exclusive cloud provider<\/h3>\n

This deal will make Microsoft the exclusive cloud provider for OpenAI, allowing Microsoft to power all OpenAI workloads across research, products and application programming interface services. With the arrangement, OpenAI will run its technology through Microsoft\u2019s Azure cloud computing platform. It will also enable the AI lab to scale and make its services available to developers and companies looking to use AI services. Think of this model as AI as a service.<\/p>\n

AI and the bigger picture<\/h2>\n

This announcement comes days after Microsoft joined the wave of industry lay-offs to reveal that it was making 10,000 staff members redundant<\/a> \u2014 equating to 4.5% of its total employee headcount. Although Microsoft did not state that these terminations happened to give way for more investment in OpenAI, this new deal will leave many people thinking in that direction.<\/p>\n