In the latest update, the CEO of Microsoft Mr. Satya Nadella has refuted the claims of Twitter owner Elon Musk that the tech company has any control over OpenAI because of its major investment. Nadella contradicted Musk’s claim and said that Microsoft does not influence the OpenAI startup. Further, Nadella also shared how he believes that small companies do have the potential to compete with the major companies in the industry like Google and Microsoft.
In an interview with CNBC, Nadella said that OpenAI is “very grounded in their mission of being controlled by a nonprofit board.” He further stated that Microsoft has a “non-controlling interest” in OpenAI and that the two companies have a “great commercial partnership.” Musk, who is the CEO of Tesla and SpaceX, co-founded OpenAI in 2015. However, he left the company in 2018 after disagreements with other founders about the company’s direction.
Musk has even shared his concerns about the ethical problems of AI development in current years. Nadella however supported the advancements of open AI and shared that the company’s management is quite responsible while directing the future course of the firm. The remarks of Nadella come as a contradiction at a time when there are highly varied opinions on the pace of AI developments in the industry.
In an interview with The Information in April, Musk claimed that Microsoft has “a very strong say, if not directly controls, OpenAI at this point.” He said that this was because Microsoft had invested $1 billion in OpenAI in 2019.
Nadella however said that Bing and ChatGPT were rising competitors for Google’s Bard, which might not been even dreamt of by the company. The search industry where Google had a stronghold has got new competition from these OpenAI models. There are several people who are entering the search market and that should be appreciated, said Nadella.
On the other hand, Elon Musk said that he will keep sharing his political views even if that means he is on the losing side financially. Musk has been a vocal critic of large technology companies, and he has expressed concerns about the potential for AI to be used for harmful purposes.
Nadella’s comments suggest that Microsoft is committed to OpenAI’s mission of developing safe and beneficial AI. He said that Microsoft is “excited to be a part of OpenAI’s journey” and that the company is “committed to helping them achieve their mission.” There has been disagreement between these two influential men in recent years over the future of OpenAI.
