Microsoft Expands Partnership With ChatGPT Founder OpenAI, Invests Billions

Microsoft on Monday announced its partnership with OpenAI, the research lab and creator of artificial intelligence (AI) chatbot ChatGPT has been extended.

Microsoft's fresh investment in OpenAI has been put at $10 billion. ( Image: Getty )

Microsoft on Monday announced its partnership with OpenAI, the research lab and creator of artificial intelligence (AI) chatbot ChatGPT has been extended. Microsoft's fresh investment in OpenAI has been put at $10 billion, which would value the company at roughly $29 billion, the media has reported.

"Today, we are announcing the third phase of our long-term partnership with OpenAI through a multiyear, multibillion-dollar investment to accelerate AI breakthroughs to ensure these benefits are broadly shared with the world," Satya Nadella, Microsoft CEO, wrote in a blog post.

“We formed our partnership with OpenAI around a shared ambition to responsibly advance cutting-edge AI research and democratize AI as a new technology platform,” Nadella added.

“In this next phase of our partnership, developers and organizations across industries will have access to the best AI infrastructure, models, and toolchain with Azure to build and run their applications.”

This comes days after rumours suggested that Microsoft was in talks to invest in OpenAI. To recall, launched as a prototype on November 30 last year, OpenAI's chatbot ChatGPT became popular among netizens because of its simple UI and easy approach to solving problems. To use ChatGPT, all you need to do is visit chat.openai.com, register with your mail ID and type in your query in the textbox that appears. 

Owing to the overall simplicity of ChatGPT, Microsoft is also working to add the chatbot to its search engine, Bing -- primarily in order to take on rival Alphabet-owned Google.

Meanwhile, Microsoft has started its first round of layoffs. Microsoft India has begun the process of laying off staff in its IDC offices in Bengaluru and Hyderabad, says a report by Inc42, citing sources.

Microsoft had last week said that it would cut 10,000 jobs, or less than 5 per cent of its workforce, globally. The tech giant employs 18,000 employees across six locations in India -- Ahmedabad, Bengaluru, Chennai, Hyderabad, Gurugram and Pune.