NYT learned about Microsoft’s attempts to create a replacement for OpenAI technologies

According to them, Microsoft management is concerned that the company’s success in the field of artificial intelligence directly depends on the situation at OpenAI, which several key employees previously left. In this context, in March Microsoft paid at least $650 million to hire a significant part of the Inflection team, one of OpenAI’s main competitors, writes the NYT.

Former Inflection CEO and co-founder Mustafa Suleiman leads a new team focused on creating consumer AI technologies based on OpenAI software. He is also a key figure in Microsoft’s long-term strategy to create technologies that can replace OpenAI solutions, say NYT interlocutors.

According to the publication, Microsoft had already invested a total of $13 billion in OpenAI and was ready to continue investing, but the management changed its position in the fall of 2023. Then, the OpenAI board of directors temporarily suspended its director from work. co-founder Sam Altman due to loss of trust. Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella said in private conversations that Altman’s dismissal surprised him, the NYT writes.

A few days after his departure, Altman returned to the position of director of OpenAI and the board of directors that removed him underwent changes. However, the situation in the company is far from stable. In recent months, several senior managers have left, including ChatGPT head of development Mira Murati (who left in September 2024), as well as co-founders Ilya Sutskever (who announced his departure in May of the same year) and John Shulman (who went to work for an OpenAI competitor – Anthropic in August).