This is the third phase of the collaboration between the group and OpenAI, the origin of the chatbot.
Microsoft will invest “several billion dollars” to expand its partnership with the artificial intelligence specialist OpenAI, creator in particular of the conversational robot ChatGPTaccording to a joint statement from the two companies released on Monday.
This is the third phase of the collaboration between the two companies (after investments in 2019 and 2021), which aims in particular to strengthen Microsoft’s subsidiary dedicated to remote computing (cloud), Azure.
Asked by AFP about the exact amount of the investment and a possible increase in the capital of OpenAI, Microsoft did not respond immediately, but several American media mentioned the figure of 10 billion dollars.
Little known to the general public so far, OpenAI, created only 7 years ago, has been talked about a lot since the launch last November of its “chatbot”. ChatGPT.
Although it is not the first software of its kind, it has surprised by the quality of its responses, whether writing a text on a given topic, explaining a complex subject in an intelligible way, or even to create a poem or the lyrics of a song.
Soon integrated into the Microsoft universe
ChatGPT marvels as much as it worries, between a precious tool that saves humans from tedious tasks and a threat to many jobs whose usefulness it could question.
The agreement announced on Monday provides that each partner will be able to “market independently” products resulting from the technology developed jointly, based on artificial intelligence.
In addition to ChatGPTthe “billions of dollars” invested by Microsoft will be able to benefit other software developed by OpenAI, such as Dall-E 2, which makes it possible to generate images on demand thanks to artificial intelligence, or GitHub Copilot, assistant to the computer programming.
OpenAI plans to launch a paid version of ChatGPTwhich should offer faster responses and the ability to interact with the chatbot more frequently.
Under this collaboration, Microsoft will use software already developed by OpenAI “in its consumer and business products.”
This means that elements of ChatGPT could be integrated into applications such as the Outlook email service or the Bing search engine.
“With this new phase of our partnership, developers and companies from all industries will have access to the best models, infrastructure and toolset of artificial intelligence, with Azure to build and run their applications”, commented the CEO of Microsoft, Satya Nadella, quoted in press release.
Originally a software company, then a computer equipment company, Microsoft has for several years made remote computing a major axis of development, like its rivals Alphabet (Google) or Amazon.
“We are excited to continue our independent research and work to create advanced artificial intelligence that benefits everyone,” OpenAI CEO Sam Altman said in the statement.
For analysts at Wedbush Securities, “ChatGPT can potentially be a game-changer for Microsoft”, they explained in a note. With this investment, the Redmond (Washington) firm “is ahead of the rest of the + big tech +”, they added.
