Microsoft has appointed Mustafa Suleyman and Karen Simonyan, co-founders of the renowned AI startup Inflection AI, along with several of their team members, as part of its ongoing efforts to attract top talent under the leadership of Satya Nadella.
Suleyman, who is also a co-founder of DeepMind acquired by Google in 2014, will oversee Microsoft’s newly established consumer AI unit, known as Microsoft AI. Simonyan will join the company as a chief scientist within the same division. Suleyman, holding the title of EVP and CEO of Microsoft AI, will report directly to CEO Nadella. Notably, Microsoft had led a $1.3 billion funding round for Inflection AI less than a year ago.
In addition to his role in Microsoft AI, Suleyman will be responsible for leading AI products and research for Copilot, Bing, and Edge, as mentioned in a tweet.
“Several members of the Inflection team have chosen to join Mustafa and Karén at Microsoft,” Nadella mentioned in a blog post. “They include some of the most accomplished AI engineers, researchers, and builders in the world. They have designed, led, launched, and co-authored many of the most important contributions in advancing AI over the last five years.”
Inflection AI, founded in 2022 by LinkedIn co-founder Reid Hoffman and Suleyman, specializes in developing AI systems capable of engaging in open-ended dialogue, answering questions, and assisting with various tasks. The company recently announced a shift in focus towards the AI studio business, specifically in building and testing customer generative AI models, as detailed in a blog post.
As part of this transition, Inflection AI will be hosting Inflection-2.5 on Microsoft Azure to expand its reach to “creators everywhere,” with plans to extend availability to other cloud platforms in the near future. The API is currently under development and set to launch soon.
Microsoft’s dedication to the new AI unit has been evident, with previous attempts to recruit OpenAI co-founders Altman and Brockman. Nadella emphasized the need for continuous innovation as Microsoft and the world progress in the AI platform shift, now in its second year.
