Microsoft hires Google DeepMind co-founder Mustafa Suleyman.exist Posts on XSuleiman announced that he will join Microsoft as CEO of a new team that handles the company’s consumer-facing artificial intelligence products, including Copilot, Bing, and Edge.
Suleyman will also serve as executive vice president of Microsoft AI and join the company’s senior leadership team, reporting directly to CEO Satya Nadella. Suleyman co-founded the artificial intelligence lab DeepMind in 2010, which was later acquired by Google in 2014.
DeepMind remains the pioneering force in artificial intelligence within Google. Suleiman, however, has not been with the department for many years. According to a 2019 report, he was suspended amid controversy surrounding some of the projects he led. Bloomberg. wall street journal It was later reported that Google and DeepMind were investigating Suleiman over complaints that he had bullied employees.
After DeepMind took a leave of absence, Google announced the hiring of Suleyman as vice president of artificial intelligence product management and artificial intelligence policy. Suleyman left Google in 2022 and co-founded the startup Inflection AI.
In addition to hiring Suleyman, Microsoft has also hired some employees from Inflection AI, including co-founder Karén Simonyan, who will serve as chief scientist on the consumer AI team. Kevin Scott will continue to serve as Microsoft’s chief technology officer and executive vice president of artificial intelligence.
Nadella said in a memo to employees: “I have known Mustafa for several years and have great admiration for him as the founder of DeepMind and Inflection, as a visionary product maker and as a pioneer in building teams pursuing bold missions. .” Published by Microsoft. “We have the opportunity to build technologies once thought impossible and fulfill our mission to ensure that the benefits of artificial intelligence reach every person and organization on the planet safely and responsibly.”
Microsoft has invested billions of dollars in working with OpenAI and recently struck a deal with artificial intelligence startup Mistral. The formation of the new AI team doesn’t mean Microsoft has forgotten about these partnerships. Microsoft said it “will continue to build artificial intelligence infrastructure, including custom systems and chip work, to support OpenAI’s foundational model roadmap” and “build products on top of its foundational model.”
Updated March 19 at 1:38 pm ET: Added background information about Suleyman’s time at DeepMind.