Microsoft hired Mustafa Suleyman, one of the co-founders of Google DeepMind, to lead its consumer AI projects.
DeepMind, an artificial intelligence laboratory, was founded in 2010 by Suleyman, Demis Hassabis and Shane Legg. Google bought it in 2014. Since then, DeepMind has been the basis of Google’s machine learning and artificial intelligence, including the Gemini chatbot.
Suleyman worked at DeepMind until 2019, when he joined Google as Head of Product Management for AI. He left the company in 2022 to found a new startup, Inflection, which competed with OpenAI and is one of Microsoft’s main partners in the field of artificial intelligence.
Inflection distinguished itself by emphasizing the tone and emotional intelligence of its AI products, including the Pi chatbot, which was “designed to be a kind and supportive companion.” With Suleyman’s hiring, Microsoft is also hiring a significant portion of Inflection’s staff, including co-founder Karén Simonyan, who serves as the company’s lead researcher on consumer AI.
Microsoft and OpenAI will continue their partnership, with Suleyman focusing on taking existing AI models and turning those models into real products.
Although Microsoft was quite successful with the launch of GPT-4-based Copilot on the web, Windows 11 PCs and even Android devices, competition in the AI market is still fierce. In recent months, Google’s AI efforts in mobile devices have gained a strong foothold, from the launch of Gemini on Android to recent talks of offering AI services to the Apple iPhone.
Source: 9to5Google
