Microsoft is nearing completion of a $10 billion investment into OpenAI, the company behind two of the most talked-about AI technologies now accessible to the general public: DALL-E and ChatGPT.
Microsoft is now seeking to acquire a sizable ownership position in OpenAI, having already contributed $1 billion as part of the startup’s inaugural fundraising round in 2019.
According to the agreement, Microsoft would receive a 75% cut of OpenAI’s income up until it recovers its investment, at which point Microsoft would take a 49% ownership position in the company.
With the deal, OpenAI would be worth $29 billion.
The investment is a big affirmation of the promise of AI technologies, which are already usefully facilitating a variety of tasks and the creativity processes for a wide range of users.
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How does this affect Microsoft and its competitors?
Microsoft has been looking into ways to integrate ChatGPT into Bing, its search engine, which. It could also add these tolls into Microsoft’s 365 suite of products, or even LinkedIn.
Such move could lead to a new competition for AI integration into Search tools
Although Google has signified that it will not be trying to include AI tools into its search algorithms due to the possibility of inaccuracies in the results generated, Microsoft adding AI to Bing could change Google’s plans.
Anyhow, an investment of this size from Microsoft would be a huge boost for OpenAI’s goals.
In order to finance its operations, OpenAI would eventually also need to commercialize its tools, but an integration with Microsoft would reorient its strategy in this area.
These tools might also swiftly spread throughout a greater number of apps and tools.
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Jaw de Guzman is the content producer for Comms Room, a knowledge platform and website aimed at assisting the communications industry and its professionals.