Microsoft has announced the addition of Sam Altman and Greg Brockman, both former executives from OpenAI, to its new advanced AI research team. The duo will be joined by other colleagues and have expressed confidence in their ability to succeed at Microsoft.
Altman will be leading the new AI research laboratory at Microsoft as its CEO, while Brockman will be working closely with him as a key member of the team. Their departure from OpenAI has left vacant positions and raised concerns among investors, employees, and the technology industry as a whole. Initially, OpenAI had chosen a former technology director to replace Altman but ultimately decided not to proceed with that plan.
The departure of Altman and other key executives from OpenAI has sparked discussions about the possibility of reinstating him in his position but negotiations did not result in a return. While Microsoft has secured the talent of Altman and his team, other organizations have also shown interest in recruiting them, including the Government of France which has extended an offer to help develop their capabilities in artificial intelligence.
Altman remains a highly sought-after figure in the AI field, and his departure has sparked interest from rival companies as well as countries looking for top talent in this area. The integration of technologies such as ChatGPT and DALL-E into Microsoft’s search engine Bing is just one example of how heavily invested Microsoft is in AI research and development.