Microsoft has significantly bolstered its position in the artificial intelligence (AI) sector with a series of strategic moves involving Inflection AI, a prominent AI startup that raised $1.3 billion and developed the Pi 2.5 chatbot. Inflection AI, known for its $4B valuation at the last funding round, has seen a major shift in its business strategy and leadership. Mustafa Suleyman, co-founder of Inflection AI, along with two-thirds of the startup's co-founders and most of its staff, are joining Microsoft to lead a new consumer-focused AI division. This division will incorporate existing teams from Bing, Edge, and generative AI. The partnership between Microsoft and Inflection AI includes licensing Inflection's technology to Microsoft, with an undisclosed financial component aimed at ensuring Inflection's investors are made whole over time. This move is part of Microsoft's broader strategy to diversify its AI efforts beyond its initial bet on OpenAI, amidst growing antitrust concerns. The transition also signifies a pivot for Inflection AI from a consumer AI company to focusing on API and business-to-business services, leveraging Microsoft's Azure platform. The deal, which reportedly involves Microsoft paying Inflection $650 million, is seen as a strategic acquisition without the regulatory scrutiny typically associated with such transactions. Additionally, Microsoft announced the Surface Pro 10 and Surface Laptop 6, marking a significant update in its hardware lineup.
$MSFT Microsoft knows a thing or two about antitrust investigations and it's because of deal structures like the one with Inflection that it doesn't find itself in the regulatory crosshairs nearly as much as its mega-cap peers https://t.co/HLS3quxJdL
this is a fine way for MSFT and the Inflection founders to show "at least we didnt screw our investors entirely" but Venture capitalists — and more importantly their LP's — are not in the 1.1 or 1.5x returns business..... https://t.co/qBlwUnGSl0 https://t.co/SQiQv7A307
from @Jessicalessin @nmasc_ @aaronpholmes: Microsoft doesn’t want its plan to hire two of Inflection AI’s co-founders and most of its 70-person staff to be seen as an acquisition. But it’s still writing a hefty check to the AI startup. https://t.co/RxwFMlHwvr
Everything Microsoft announced at its March Surface event https://t.co/v5XlSIWR8E https://t.co/OTtax46YAF
$MSFT should take a hit here https://t.co/FDreKNsK4H
$MSFT | Microsoft Agreed To Pay Inflection $650 Mln While Hiring Its Staff - @theinformation https://t.co/QsF8MA08xD
MICROSOFT AGREED TO PAY INFLECTION $650 MILLION WHILE HIRING ITS STAFF- THE INFORMATION
#Microsoft has refreshed the #Surface lineup with new commercial devices that sport Intel Core Ultra CPUs under the hood. https://t.co/YQwKNDlqz7
Britain's BBC considers building in-house AI model https://t.co/lwHeyuYylx https://t.co/a1yZBfBuBj
Microsoft debuts major Surface overhauls that regular people can’t buy https://t.co/8o2yvhVI1i
Microsoft $MSFT is now $500 Billion larger than Apple $AAPL https://t.co/RRNwBxmSjk
TechCrunch Minute: All about Microsoft’s mega AI push after it hired Inflection AI’s co-founders: https://t.co/c6MpgRj0Cb by TechCrunch #infosec #cybersecurity #technology #news
Microsoft really wants to talk about Copilot: https://t.co/UiiTGrylgV by TechCrunch #infosec #cybersecurity #technology #news
Microsoft updates the Surface Laptop 6 and Surface Pro 10 for enterprise, adding a Copilot key, a Neural Processing Unit for Windows 11 AI features, and more (@tomwarren / The Verge) https://t.co/NJDWz7L6hb 📫 Subscribe: https://t.co/OyWeKSQRTe https://t.co/5cqczw6RYW
Microsoft really wants to talk about Copilot https://t.co/EzWzGBXZv4
Microsoft's Surface Pro 10 and Surface Laptop 6 are here, but you won't find them in stores https://t.co/t4u5JZDKxX https://t.co/JtbFxUjhMt
Microsoft’s first AI PCs are the Surface Pro 10 and Surface Laptop 6 for businesses https://t.co/LGF66Xfb0k
Microsoft debuts first Surface PCs with dedicated Copilot chatbot key https://t.co/XErA2B5vPR
Microsoft’s latest Surfaces were built for serious business https://t.co/UAcW81etVk by @markhachman
TechCrunch Minute: All about Microsoft’s mega AI push after it hired Inflection AI’s co-founders https://t.co/xPopUhXjcj
Copilot gets its own key on Microsoft’s new Surface devices https://t.co/CvyENSAwtr
Microsoft has just unveiled the Surface Pro 10 for business and Surface Laptop 6 for business, which feature the same designs as last gen, but with notable display and webcam upgrades, and new Intel Core Ultra chips. DETAILS: https://t.co/jaFF6Mnwue #Surface #Microsoft
Britain’s BBC considers building in-house AI model https://t.co/ZGXCC9iYTb
Analysis: Microsoft’s big hires foreshadow bold new move into consumer AI - by @SSomasegar of @MadronaVentures https://t.co/uO4ceEyqMy via @GeekWire
Financial Times @ft: BBC develops AI plans and talks to Big Tech over archives access - Financial Times. #aistrategy #robotics #GenAI https://t.co/H1CMDN9gg4
Analysis: Microsoft’s big hires foreshadow bold new move into consumer AI https://t.co/SwlUTQ2vYv
Microsoft's Surface event kicks off in an hour at 9AM PT / 12PM ET / 4PM UK. We’re expecting Microsoft to announce new Surface Pro 10 and Surface Laptop 6 devices for businesses, ahead of consumer versions in May. Here's how you can watch today's event 👇 https://t.co/L1cZj6Bu2A
[Will be interesting to see if this sells. . . ] BBC develops AI plans and talks to Big Tech over archives access https://t.co/nuLF2MNveZ via @ft
What Is Copilot? Microsoft's AI Assistant Explained https://t.co/LX68NQGgNB
Sources: the BBC plans to build its own AI models, and is holding talks with tech companies, including Amazon, about selling its content for AI training (@danielthomasldn / Financial Times) https://t.co/qGYmvgGbPS 📫 Subscribe: https://t.co/OyWeKSQRTe https://t.co/SEfkNwopYE
BBC develops AI plans and talks to Big Tech over archives access https://t.co/FtyCONRbMg
Could we see a new Surface Pro 10 and Surface Laptop 6? https://t.co/XfIrxFnQ9x
Microsoft sneaking in on Inflection AI investors https://t.co/ErIkNUlb2I
It would make complete sense if the competitive landscape of AI were dominated by a subset of the same few tech giants that win every other market: Microsoft/OpenAI/Inflection vs. Google/(& Apple?) vs. Meta, with Anthropic going to one of those or Amazon. They have the compute.
Here is my thought on the news about Microsoft and Inflection AI: Nadella hired a toxic manager who abused his people, and dragged out sexual abuse cases to run their new AI division. But I guess hiring a founder of DeepMind is more important than having good leadership.
To be clear... - MSFT is diversifying from OpenAI to avoid anti-trust scrutiny - MSFT acquihires Inflection but doesn't call it an "acquisition" to avoid anti-trust scrutiny! Game, set, and match - MSFT Big tech always wins when there is a fight between big tech and big…
Microsoft hiring of Inflection staff came amid lack of consumer AI vision, and board concerns about OpenAI, insiders say https://t.co/Dtd03XC8qL
Microsoft hiring of Mustafa Suleyman and most of Inflection’s 70 employees is the latest sign of the company's diversification from OpenAI—up to a point. https://t.co/OSveBx2lYw AI Agenda by @aaronpholmes
In the land grab around AI, big tech companies are relying on old playbooks to cement and enhance their lead, which could draw greater scrutiny from Washington and Brussels. New from @ReedAlbergotti in Semafor Tech: https://t.co/PLgipjh8nn
Microsoft will announce a new Surface Pro and Surface Laptop tomorrow. Here's how to watch the event. Details: https://t.co/9EdED1ufiX #Surface #Microsoft
Of the FAANG companies, Microsoft has taken a clear lead on AI. Google has the technical chops but cannot avoid self-inflicted injures due to institutional dysfunction. Apple remains a mystery, but I don’t yet count them out.
Microsoft's Satya Nadella tried to hire Sam Altman. He got Mustafa Suleyman instead. #Microsoft #SatyaNadella #OpenAI #SamAltman https://t.co/skAkvWMgBl
Why Microsoft’s surprise deal with $4 billion startup Inflection is the most important non-acquisition in AI #DisruptiveTech https://t.co/xTjWOiErky
The way that Microsoft is getting around m&a regulatory concerns by locking in deals with all the big AI co’s, who are also competitors, may also raise competition/antitrust concerns. Interested to see how DC tries to reckon with this. https://t.co/CBuh1shskz
Financial Times @ft: Hiring Suleyman Extends Microsoft's AI Lead - The New York Times. #ArtificialIntelligence #GenAI #robotics https://t.co/e9MvUu4U42
Inflection, the startup that’s losing most of its staff to backer Microsoft, has an arrangement for investors that will make them whole. https://t.co/pEzoAg5IKB By @nmasc_ & @aaronpholmes
After raising $1.3B, Inflection is eaten alive by its biggest investor, Microsoft https://t.co/35omIqzo1T https://t.co/6mli0kpHzp
Astera Labs goes public, and the Inflection-Microsoft AI saga continues: https://t.co/HGmj5Edhgt by TechCrunch #infosec #cybersecurity #technology #news
"Microsoft is very serious about hedging their OpenAI bet." - @benthompson
The surprise takeover of promising AI startup Inflection shows how quickly innovation is being captured by a handful of tech players, @parmy writes https://t.co/eH1gB80V7g
3-20-2024 ($) •Microsoft and Inflection AI •Inflection Oddities •The Acquisition That Isn't https://t.co/QjTu3v6rXq
today in AI: 1/ Satya Nadella is out there, hedging his AI bets right, left and centre. The latest move from him is getting @inflectionAI’s co-founder @mustafasuleyman to join and head @Microsoft’s new AI division. Our summary: https://t.co/me4pYPmwfL In brief, there are three…
Here's why Microsoft’s surprise deal with $4 billion startup Inflection is the most important non-acquisition in AI. https://t.co/lh8k8j0zwH
The latest moves by Microsoft, Apple and Google show that AI remains Big Tech's game. https://t.co/T4Hu9Va1Oy
The surprise takeover of promising AI startup Inflection shows how quickly innovation is being captured by a handful of tech players, @parmy writes https://t.co/0nOdC0vZzj via @opinion
Here are today's AI headlines: [1] Former Google DeepMind Co-founder Takes Helm at Microsoft's New AI Division [2] Stability AI Unveils Breakthrough in Video Technology with Stable Video 3D (SV3D) [3] Google DeepMind Teams Up with Liverpool FC to Revolutionize Soccer Strategy…
$MSFT (+0.1% pre) Inflection AI Plans Pivot After Most Employees Go to Microsoft - BBG https://t.co/jINB6tWAgn
Inflection AI updates: - Expansion to enterprises - Business model - Partnership with Microsoft - Leadership changes 🧵 https://t.co/ntSb1ae6Ee
Microsoft is ramping up marketing of its artificial intelligence (AI) assistant Copilot with an advertisement designed for the Super Bowl […] The post AI has its Super Bowl moment with Microsoft Copilot appeared first ... https://t.co/uzBCoDGTed
After its early OpenAI bet, Microsoft hiring Mustafa Suleyman and Inflection's staff continues a strategy of developing close ties with leading AI practitioners (@camillahodgson / Financial Times) https://t.co/49Sd7WNmkT https://t.co/hnUIPJoavv
Microsoft poaches Inflection chief in push to dominate consumer AI https://t.co/SeDKDglipU
Keep an eye out for new PCs, including the Surface Pro 10 and Surface Laptop 6. https://t.co/0gouVsxfBD
The division will absorb Bing, Edge and generative AI teams and be overseen by a newly hired AI CEO. https://t.co/LjPPnNc35C
Trending: Microsoft names DeepMind co-founder and former Google exec as its new CEO of AI https://t.co/qI3WqPh5rb
It is interesting to see a key truth about the current state of AI play out over and over again. Only a few organizations have the compute needed to train GPT-4 class & beyond models. Key small AI labs may have a lot of talent & ideas, but only 4-5 tech giants have the servers. https://t.co/884p9UNLxo
Inflection: Investors will make only a small profit (“investors they will fully recoup their investment, and more”), “company struggled to find an effective use-case or business model for its consumer product”. “Microsoft is not buying any assets, only hiring workers” Not a big… https://t.co/HDi0vroIkS
'This was basically an acquisition of Inflection without having to go through regulatory approval. It would be easy to see Microsoft offering Inflection employees the equivalent equity to Inflection’s last round (priced at $4B I believe)." Satya Nadella may be savviest tech… https://t.co/hD5BbCoY5i
New w @nmasc_: Inflection has made an unusual promise to investors that they'll recoup their investment through sales of the startup's models on Azure (and other clouds). Inflection projects costs will be lower after most of its staff join Microsoft https://t.co/FHj6Yv6aJN
New details on an unusual aspect within Inflection's next chapter. Investors have been promised they're going to be made whole (and then some) as part but will also retain existing stakes after the payout. w/ @aaronpholmes https://t.co/gxPMR4hi5g
After raising $1.3B, Inflection is eaten alive by its biggest investor, Microsoft | TechCrunch https://t.co/CqUUAqQeWX
A bit more detail on the Inflection / Microsoft news: sources tell me at @Forbes that there's an undisclosed financial component to Inflection's licensing its API to Microsoft, providing a path for Inflection investors to be made whole over time. https://t.co/NzCeT67uXX
Inflection AI plans to license its technology to Microsoft; a source says investors in Inflection AI, which has raised more than $1.5B, will be made whole (@shiringhaffary / Bloomberg) https://t.co/64Zjn6mU56 📫 Subscribe: https://t.co/OyWeKSRpIM https://t.co/eiJM2hu4ZK
Microsoft poaches 'relentless' former Google executive in ongoing AI arms race https://t.co/bYzywaBVnk
Funny to see what Microsoft learned from the OpenAI saga last fall - easiest way to evade antitrust scrutiny on an acquisition the @FTC might have looked askance at is to just buy all the parts separately: https://t.co/qbiWXk6R1G
My read on this Microsoft AI situation, is that in months following OpenAI board room coup drama and new revelations about Sam Altman, Microsoft leadership got privately spooked by how utterly and subtly manipulative and two-faced Sam Altman actually is (unless Microsoft C-suite https://t.co/nNYSMjqttB
|between the lines| Microsoft trying to diversify its OpenAI risk/exposure by partna-hiring the Inflection AI founders https://t.co/TuSlMz7Ck6
New details from me on the state of Inflection: -The company will keep its proprietary tech -Licensing its model to MSFT, potentially others as it shifts to B2B biz -Investors will be made whole, according to a source https://t.co/jMMSrukaik
Microsoft Taps AI innovators to lead new consumer-focused division. https://t.co/GFKX8YUKIb
Microsoft hits Inflection point, peels off top personnel to form AI division https://t.co/AwWLMRJVDV
Inflection AI raised more than $1.5 billion from investors before two of its co-founders and most of its staff were hired by Microsoft https://t.co/7La022SrdR
The maker of chatbot Pi had raised $1.3 billion a year ago. Suleyman will now lead Microsoft’s consumer AI efforts as Inflection pivots to a business-to-business focus. https://t.co/h0adeDa5FG
Big news from Inflection AI today - 2/3 cofounders are leaving to Microsoft and Inflection is transitioning to an API business. Makes a lot of sense - difficult to raise 150m pre PMF and justify that valuation as a consumer app company, but as an API business much more plausible.…
Inflection won't shut down Pi but will no longer focus on its consumer business, instead working with commercial customers to create, test, and tune AI systems (New York Times) https://t.co/xs5olhNduk 📫 Subscribe: https://t.co/OyWeKSRpIM https://t.co/IfKSOtWTI7
a very interesting scoop from @dinabass about @inflectionAI, which rolled out its Pi chatbot last may and has raised $1.53 billion in funding. https://t.co/tDwEo4lnVy
a very interesting scoop from @dinabass about @inflectionAI, which only rolled out its Pi chatbot last may and has raised $1.53 billion in funding. https://t.co/tDwEo4kQ60
Microsoft CEO hedges OpenAI bet, launches new AI organization https://t.co/fIXJYCo3QW
Microsoft Continues To Diversify From OpenAI Inflection AI didn't work out as a consumer AI company. It is pivoting into an API company with its LLMs offered on Azure and the founders leaving to run an MSFT division. Azure is clearly diversifying from OpenAI. First, they did a…
Between OpenAI and now Inflection leadership hiring + simultaneous Inflection partnership, it feels like there's some expert antitrust avoidance on the part of Microsoft going on here.
“It’s a good day for Mustafa and a bad day for Inflection’s investors and early employees,” said Nathan Benaich, founder and general partner at Air Street Capital. AI Unicorn Inflection CEO Mustafa Suleyman Joins Microsoft. By @alexrkonrad and me. https://t.co/FCl3bwQfLF
After raising $1.3B, Inflection got eaten alive by its biggest investor, Microsoft https://t.co/bmLpeHW03P
After raising $1.3B, Inflection got eaten alive by its biggest investor, Microsoft: https://t.co/QPtNz9ykhF by TechCrunch #infosec #cybersecurity #technology #news
Microsoft Bulks Up Its AI Management Team. An AI Start-Up Loses Its CEO and Chief Scientist. https://t.co/XvxYpSgV9w
AI unicorn Inflection raised $1.3 billion just last year. Now, it's abandoning its challenge to OpenAI's ChatGPT, while CEO Mustafa Suleyman jumps ship for Microsoft to run its new consumer AI unit. What just happened?? My reaction story in @Forbes: https://t.co/ejQTKxpxSA
Just two weeks after Inflection's Pi 2.5 is announced -- the execs leave to start "Microsoft AI" division. Apparently Microsoft balked at acquisition given $4B valuation on last raise. https://t.co/vfXKEshF3y https://t.co/sR1nkuDZoe https://t.co/E73qx2H3is
MSFT just showed their true colours with that latest AI hire