Microsoft has named the co-founder of the British artificial intelligence research institute DeepMind as the head of its new AI division. Mustafa Suleiman, now 39 years old, co-founded DeepMind with Demis Hassabis and Shane Legg back in 2010. The company was later acquired by Google in 2014 for £400m and has since become the core of Google’s AI efforts. Suleiman left DeepMind in 2019 and will now lead Microsoft AI, a new organization focusing on the US company’s consumer products and research. Several members from Suleiman’s Inflection AI startup will also join the division.
Microsoft has made a multibillion-dollar investment in OpenAI, the developer of the ChatGPT chatbot, to develop generative AI technology. Satya Nadella, Microsoft’s CEO, praised Suleiman as a visionary product maker and a team leader with a bold mission. The new division will integrate Microsoft’s consumer AI efforts, such as the Copilot chatbot and the Bing browser, which utilizes ChatGPT technology. Copilot is a key element in Microsoft’s AI monetization efforts, enabling users to easily compose emails, summarize documents, create presentations, and more.
Suleiman’s colleague Karen Simonyan, also a co-founder of Inflection AI, will join the new division as a principal investigator. Meanwhile, Bloomberg News reported that Apple is in talks to incorporate Google’s Gemini AI product into the iPhone. Inflection AI, backed by Microsoft and Nvidia, has become one of the leading companies in the generative AI race.
Suleiman, who has roots in both Syria and the UK, recently published a book on AI titled “The Coming Wave.” In it, he discusses both the potential benefits and risks of AI technology, calling for an increase in research on AI safety. In an interview last year, he described the book as a “provocation,” noting the importance of predicting future trends and taking action to mitigate potential risks.
Source: www.theguardian.com
