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Microsoft’s investment in artificial-intelligence software firm OpenAI is reportedly worth $10 billion over multiple years.
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Microsoft
has agreed to expand its investment in OpenAI, the software company behind the popular artificial intelligence apps ChatGPT and Dall-E.
Microsoft (ticker: MSFT) and OpenAI announced the expanded investment early Monday. Terms were not disclosed, but Bloomberg reported that “a person familiar with the discussions” said the agreement covers $10 billion over multiple years. Microsoft invested $1 billion in OpenAI in 2019 and made an additional investment of undisclosed size in 2021.
Microsoft said that the new agreement “extends our ongoing collaboration across AI supercomputing and research and enables each of us to independently commercialize the resulting advanced AI technologies.” The company added that it will use OpenAI’s models across its consumer and enterprise products, and introduce new software built on OpenAI technology.
“We formed our partnership with OpenAI around a shared ambition to responsibly advance cutting-edge AI research and democratize AI as a new technology platform,” Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella said in a statement. “In this next phase of our partnership, developers and organizations across industries will have access to the best AI infrastructure, models, and toolchain with Azure to build and run their applications.”
OpenAI said in a blog post that the “multi-year, multi-billion dollar investment” will allow the company “to continue our independent research and develop AI that is increasingly safe, useful, and powerful.”
Adding the natural-language capabilities of ChatGPT to Microsoft’s Bing search engine could make it a more formidable competitors to market leader Google, although parent
Alphabet
(GOOGL) also has made substantial bets on artificial intelligence software, acquiring the AI startup DeepMind in 2014.
Neither Microsoft nor OpenAi could immediately be reached for comment on the size of the new investment.
Write to Eric J. Savitz at eric.savitz@barrons.com