Technology

Technology

The Big Story 

Nearly one year after OpenAI launched the popular ChatGPT tool, company CEO and co-founder Sam Altman is heading to Microsoft following a surprise ousting.

© AP Photo/Alastair Grant

Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella announced late Sunday that Altman, along with former OpenAI president and fellow co-founder Greg Brockman, will lead a generative artificial intelligence (AI) team at the tech giant.

The announcement capped off a weekend of tumultuous news after the OpenAI board of directors fired Altman on Friday evening.

Altman’s ouster and Brockman’s decision to follow him could leave Microsoft on the winning side of the turmoil.  

Microsoft invested billions of dollars in OpenAI and worked closely with the company by incorporating ChatGPT into Microsoft products.

The company’s partnership with Microsoft kept it in a leading position in the AI arms race that heated up this year.

With Altman directly under Microsoft, Wedbush analyst Dan Ives said the company stands to gain more.  

“It makes it a lot cleaner that he’s under them. That’s why I think Microsoft ultimately ends up in a better position than it was Friday,” Ives said.  

Sarah Kreps, professor of government and director of the Tech Policy Institute at Cornell University, said the biggest battle in the AI space right now is over talent.  

“Finding people who are smart, have good ideas and are determined, because everyone’s chasing after the same people and now Microsoft just got this huge windfall of talent. And so Microsoft’s gain is really OpenAI’s loss at this point,” Kreps said.  

Read more in a full report at TheHill.com. 

Welcome to The Hill’s Technology newsletter, we’re Rebecca Klar and Julia Shapero — tracking the latest moves from Capitol Hill to Silicon Valley.

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