Microsoft confirms it is investing billions in ChatGPT creator OpenAI | CNN Business

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Microsoft confirmed on Monday that it is making a “multi-billion dollar” investment in OpenAI, the company behind the new viral chatbot tool called ChatGPT.

Microsoft, an early investor in OpenAI, said it plans to expand its existing partnership with the company as part of a larger effort to add more artificial intelligence to its product suite. In a separate blog post, OpenAI said the multi-year investment will be used to “develop AI that is increasingly safe, useful and powerful.”

In late November, OpenAI opened up access to ChatGPT, an AI-powered chatbot that can provide long, thoughtful, and thorough responses to user requests and questions. Their answers, while sometimes inaccurate, have surprised users, including academics and some in the tech industry.

The investment comes days after Microsoft announced plans to lay off 10,000 employees as part of broader cost-cutting measures, making it the latest tech company to cut staff amid growing economic uncertainty.

Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella said the company was not immune to a weaker global economy, but also said the company will continue to invest in “strategic areas for our future” and pointed to advances in AI as ” the next big wave’ of computing. .

The investment in OpenAI could catapult Microsoft as a leader in AI and eventually pave the way for the company to incorporate ChatGPT into some of its signature apps, including Word, PowerPoint and Outlook.

As a result of its existing exclusive agreement with OpenAI, Microsoft recently said it would soon add ChatGPT features to its cloud computing service, Azure. If ChatGPT is available on this service, businesses could also use the tools directly in their apps and services.

Ahead of Monday’s announcement, David Lobina, an artificial intelligence analyst at ABI Research, told CNN that there are also big benefits to Microsoft’s additional investment in OpenAI.

“OpenAI is looking to monetize its systems, given the huge computing costs of building these models, and its partnership with Microsoft may be an easy way to do that,” he said.