Google DeepMind co-founder joins Microsoft as CEO of its new AI division

Microsoft has employed Google DeepMind co-founder Mustafa Suleyman. In a publish on X, Suleyman introduced that he’s becoming a member of Microsoft because the CEO of a brand new workforce that handles the corporate’s consumer-facing AI merchandise, together with Copilot, Bing, and Edge.

Suleyman can even function govt vice chairman of Microsoft AI and be a part of the corporate’s senior management workforce that reviews on to CEO Satya Nadella. Suleyman co-founded the AI lab DeepMind in 2010, which was later acquired by Google in 2014.

DeepMind has remained a pioneering AI power inside Google. Nevertheless, Suleyman hasn’t been a part of the division in a few years. He was positioned on depart in 2019 over controversy surrounding a few of the initiatives he led, in response to a report from Bloomberg. The Wall Road Journal later reported Google and DeepMind opened an investigation into Suleyman over complaints he bullied workers.

After getting positioned on depart at DeepMind, Google introduced it had employed Suleyman as vice chairman of AI product administration and AI coverage. Suleyman left Google in 2022 to co-found the startup Inflection AI.

Along with hiring Suleyman, Microsoft can be bringing on a few of Inflection AI’s staff, together with co-founder Karén Simonyan, who will function the chief scientist of the buyer AI group. Kevin Scott will stay as Microsoft’s chief know-how officer and govt vice chairman of AI.

“I’ve identified Mustafa for a number of years and have enormously admired him as a founding father of each DeepMind and Inflection, and as a visionary, product maker, and builder of pioneering groups that go after daring missions,” Nadella says in a memo to staff printed by Microsoft. “We have now an actual shot to construct know-how that was as soon as thought unattainable and that lives as much as our mission to make sure the advantages of AI attain each particular person and group on the planet, safely and responsibly.”

Microsoft has poured billions into its partnership with OpenAI and not too long ago struck a cope with AI startup Mistral. The formation of a brand new AI workforce doesn’t imply Microsoft has forgotten about these partnerships. Microsoft says it “will proceed to construct AI infrastructure inclusive of customized programs and silicon work in help of OpenAI’s basis mannequin roadmap,” in addition to “construct merchandise on high of their basis fashions.”

Replace March nineteenth, 1:38PM ET: Added context about Suleyman’s time at DeepMind.