Microsoft Creates New Microsoft AI Organization, Led by Outsiders

Microsoft announced today that it has created a new Microsoft AI organization that will be led by new hires from outside the company.

“We are in Year Two of the AI platform shift and must ensure we have the capability and capacity to boldly innovate,” Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella said in a communication shared with employees today that explains the change. “The work and product innovation we drive at this moment will define the next decade and beyond. Let us use this opportunity to build world-class AI products, like Copilot, that are loved by end-users! This is about science, engineering, product, and design coming together and embracing a learning mindset to push our innovation culture and product building process forward in fundamental ways.”

DeepMind and Inflection co-founder Mustafa Suleyman is joining Microsoft as an executive vice president who will report directly to Mr. Nadella and run the new Microsoft AI organization. And Inflection co-founder and chief scientist Karén Simonyan is also joining Microsoft and will report directly to Mr. Suleyman. Joining them are several other members of the Inflection team, whom Nadella describes as “some of the most accomplished AI engineers, researchers, and builders in the world.”

Many of Microsoft’s current AI teams will be rolled into Microsoft AI, the company confirmed: Mikhail Parakhin and the entire team responsible for Copilot, Bing, and Edge, plus Misha Bilenko and the GenAI team, will move into Microsoft AI and report to Suleyman.

Microsoft CTO Kevin Scott, who orchestrated Microsoft’s OpenAI partnership, will continue forward in his other role as executive vice president of AI and will remain responsible for Microsoft’s overall AI strategy. And Rajesh Jha will continue as executive vice president of Experiences & Devices and will “partner closely with Mustafa and team” on Copilot for Microsoft 365.

As for OpenAI, Nadella says nothing has changed. Microsoft will continue to be a platform and partner-led company, and its AI innovations will likewise continue to be based on technologies created by OpenAI, which he describes as Microsoft’s “most strategic and important partnership.” “We will continue to build AI infrastructure inclusive of custom systems and silicon work in support of OpenAI’s foundation model roadmap, and also innovate and build products on top of their foundation models,” he noted.

“We have a real shot to build technology that was once thought impossible and that lives up to our mission to ensure the benefits of AI reach every person and organization on the planet, safely and responsibly,” Mr. Nadella concluded.