Microsoft is investing billions in OpenAI amid increased Big Tech interest in artificial intelligence (AI).
“We’re happy to announce that OpenAI and Microsoft are extending our partnership,” OpenAI, maker of the popular ChatGPT, said on its blog Monday (Jan. 23).
“This multi-year, multi-billion dollar investment from Microsoft follows their previous investments in 2019 and 2021, and will allow us to continue our independent research and develop AI that is increasingly safe, useful, and powerful.”
While the announcement did not specify the amount of the investment or a time frame, a report by Bloomberg News — citing unnamed sources — pegged the value of the funding at $10 billion over the course of 10 years.
As PYMNTS reported last month, OpenAI has become widely known for ChatGPT, a chatbot with humanlike conversation capabilities that can, according to the company, “answer follow-up questions, admit its mistakes, challenge incorrect premises, and reject inappropriate requests.”
The product took social media by storm and helped put AI in the headlines once more as consumers flock to test out its humanlike conversation capabilities. According to some reports, the AI program was reportedly used to successfully pass the bar exam and medical licensing tests, and even garnered a “B” on an Ivy League business school term paper.
Earlier this month, news broke that OpenAI was considering a tender offer that would value the company at $29 billion, double the valuation the company achieved in a tender offer in 2021. The company has also said it anticipates generating $1 billion in revenue by 2024.
When OpenAI and Microsoft first teamed up in 2019, the companies said they were collaborating on “shared principles on ethics and trust” and would be working to tackle that regular AI can’t handle.
The company said in its Monday blog post that it was working with Microsoft “to deploy our technology through our API and the Azure OpenAI Service — enabling enterprise and developers to build on top of GPT, DALL·E, and Codex.”
The news comes 10 days after Google Cloud launched new AI tools to help retailers do inventory checks and other tasks. As PYMNTS noted at the time, other companies that provide cloud services have also been expanding their of AI-powered offerings.
Microsoft purchased AI and speech technology firm Nuance Communications last March to add conversational AI and ambient intelligence to its cloud tools.
And Amazon and Amazon Web Services (AWS) extended their partnership with AI company Veritone to assist media and entertainment companies in deploying AI-powered workflows and adding tools that optimize content production, management, and monetization.
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