Cloud giant Microsoft and Elon Musk’s
OpenAI LP (OpenAI) have formed a partnership. With headquarters in San Francisco, California, United States, OpenAI is a ‘for-profit’ corporation. Established in 2015, the company’s parent body is the ‘non-profit’ OpenAI Inc. - an organization that aims to benefit humanity through the development and promotion ‘friendly’ Artificial Intelligence (AI).
OpenAI’s partnership with Microsoft is intended to enhance the Azure platform’s existing AI and establish “supercomputing technologies” that “extend Microsoft Azure’s capabilities in large-scale AI systems”. The partnership, which is based on “shared values of trustworthiness and empowerment”, will be a “multi-year” commitment and see Microsoft make an investment of $1 billion towards OpenAI’s activity.
OpenAI will move its platform to Microsoft Azure. Microsoft will also take the role of OpenAI’s “preferred partner” when commercializing new AI technologies. Together the two companies will establish a new OpenAI platform that will establish new AI technologies with the aim of creating Artificial General Intelligence (AGI) - machine intelligence that can understand and learn, and has the ability to undertake the same intellectual tasks human beings perform. The outcome of the collaboration will be Azure platform enhancements that will enable developers to produce ‘next generation’ AI applications.
“The creation of AGI will be the most important technological development in human history, with the potential to shape the trajectory of humanity,” explained OpenAI’s CEO Sam Altman in a press release. “Our mission is to ensure that AGI technology benefits all of humanity, and we’re working with Microsoft to build the supercomputing foundation on which we’ll build AGI. We believe it’s crucial that AGI is deployed safely and securely and that its economic benefits are widely distributed. We are excited about how deeply Microsoft shares this vision.”
“AI is one of the most transformative technologies of our time and has the potential to help solve many of our world’s most pressing challenges,” added Microsoft’s CEO Satya Nadella in the same release. “By bringing together OpenAI’s breakthrough technology with new Azure AI supercomputing technologies, our ambition is to democratize AI — while always keeping AI safety front and center — so everyone can benefit.”
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