Microsoft Corporation MSFT revealed an intriguing move on Tuesday by bringing onboard Mustafa Suleyman, co-founder of the renowned U.K. artificial intelligence lab, DeepMind, which became a part of Google GOOGL back in 2014.
Suleyman is set to spearhead a new consumer-facing AI entity dubbed Microsoft AI, amalgamating prominent products like Copilot, Bing, and Edge under its umbrella. Assuming the position of CEO of this new unit, Suleyman will directly report to Microsoft’s revered CEO Satya Nadella.
Reflecting on this strategic move, Nadella expressed his admiration for Suleyman, hailing him as a visionary and an innovator who has made indelible contributions to the AI landscape. Nadella remarked, “The work and product innovation we drive at this moment will define the next decade and beyond. Let us use this opportunity to build world-class AI products, like Copilot, that are loved by end-users.”
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A Stellar Line-Up Joins the Microsoft AI Dream Team
Joining Suleyman in this transformative journey is Karen Simonyan, assuming the pivotal role of chief scientist at Microsoft AI. Simonyan previously served as the chief scientist at Inflection, a flourishing machine learning and generative AI (GenAI) venture co-founded by him and Suleyman in 2022.
An array of talent from the Inflection cohort has decided to rally behind Suleyman and Simonyan at Microsoft AI, echoing a collaborative spirit in this new endeavor.
Nadella lauded the expertise of these tech virtuosos, highlighting their pivotal role in shaping the evolution of AI over the past half-decade, affirming their indispensability to the AI realm.
In a bid to fortify the transition, Mikhail Parakhin along with the entire ensemble from Copilot, Bing, and Edge, alongside Misha Bilenko from the GenAI wing, are set to join Microsoft AI, extending their allegiance to Suleyman.
Suleyman And Simonyan’s Trailblazing Journey
During their tenure at DeepMind, Suleyman and his cohorts garnered widespread acclaim for concocting AlphaGo in 2016, a groundbreaking program that outwitted a professional human Go player, underscoring their proficiency in the AI domain.
Post their stint at DeepMind, Suleyman and Simonyan co-founded Inflection alongside tech titan Reid Hoffman. The duo spearheaded the development of Pi, a sophisticated language model. Noteworthy investors in Inflection encompassed industry stalwarts like Microsoft and Nvidia Corporation NVDA.
Inflection bid farewell to Suleyman and Simonyan, ushering in a new CEO, Sean White, heralded as a visionary poised to steer Inflection into a promising future.
Suleyman’s appointment at the helm of Microsoft AI is poised to have a negligible impact on Microsoft’s ongoing collaboration with OpenAI.
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