Microsoft has formed a multiyear partnership with OpenAI. Microsoft has invested $1 billion and will focus on building a platform that OpenAI will use to create new AI technologies.
Microsoft Corp., and OpenAI, two companies thinking deeply about the role of AI in the world and how to build secure, trustworthy and ethical AI to serve the public, have partnered to further extend Microsoft Azure’s capabilities in large-scale AI systems. Through this partnership, the companies will accelerate breakthroughs in AI and power OpenAI’s efforts to create artificial general intelligence (AGI). The resulting enhancements to the Azure platform will also help developers build the next generation of AI applications.
The partnership covers the following:
- Microsoft and OpenAI will jointly build new Azure AI supercomputing technologies
- OpenAI will port its services to run on Microsoft Azure, which it will use to create new AI technologies and deliver on the promise of artificial general intelligence
- Microsoft will become OpenAI’s preferred partner for commercializing new AI technologies
The press release states that Microsoft and OpenAI will build a computational platform in Azure which will train and run increasingly advanced AI models, include hardware technologies that build on Microsoft’s supercomputing technology, and adhere to the two companies’ shared principals on ethics and trust. Their intent appears to be to create the foundation of advancements in AI to be implemented in a safe, secure and trustworthy way.
OpenAI states that they and Microsoft have a mission to ensure that artificial general intelligence (AGI) benefits all of humanity. This requires ensuring that AGI is deployed safely and securely; that society is well-prepared for its implications; and that its economic upside is shared.
I’m willing to believe that OpenAI and Microsoft are being honest in their motivations. My concern is that they may be unable to prevent the problem of having biased data unintentionally seeping into their AGI. I’m very curious to see precisely how the economic upside of their AGI is shared and who it is shared with.