Microsoft to invest $10b in ChatGPT maker OpenAI

Microsoft has plans to invest “billions” in ChatGPT creator OpenAI over the next few years.

OpenAI CEO Sam Altman (left) and Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella / Photo credit: Microsoft

While Microsoft kept the investment amount undisclosed, Bloomberg said Bill Gates’ tech titan is investing US$10 billion in OpenAI. Previous reports indicated that Microsoft will own a 49% stake in the firm.

The deal, which reportedly pegs OpenAI at a US$29 billion valuation, will allow Microsoft to “independently commercialize” the firm’s solutions.

One of the ways this will be implemented is through the Microsoft Azure OpenAI Service, which enables developers to create projects using OpenAI’s models.

The firm will also be channeling funds into the accelerated development and deployment of OpenAI’s supercomputing systems while acting as its exclusive cloud provider.

Microsoft had previously injected US$1 billion into OpenAI in 2019. The tech giant then invested an undisclosed amount to the ChatGPT developer in 2021.

OpenAI was founded by a group of scientists and entrepreneurs in 2015, which include ex-Y Combinator head Sam Altman, Tesla CEO Elon Musk, and famed researcher Ilya Sutskever.

This news comes off the heels of Microsoft’s layoffs last week, which affected 10,000 employees.

See also: ChatGPT works scarily well, but can we trust it?