1. Microsoft hires AI startup Inflection AI co-founders Mustafa Suleyman and Karen Simonyan and their team.
2. Suleyman will run Microsoft’s consumer AI unit and lead AI products and research for Copilot, Bing, and Edge.
3. Inflection AI will shift focus to AI studio business and host Inflection-2.5 on Microsoft Azure, with plans to expand to other cloud hosting platforms.
Microsoft has made a significant move in the AI space by hiring Mustafa Suleyman and Karen Simonyan, co-founders of Inflection AI, along with several of their colleagues. Suleyman, also a co-founder of DeepMind, will lead Microsoft’s newly formed consumer AI unit, while Simonyan will join as a chief scientist within the same group. The decision to bring in top talent from Inflection AI comes as Microsoft continues its aggressive push to attract skilled individuals to bolster its AI efforts.
Many members of the Inflection team have chosen to follow Suleyman and Simonyan to Microsoft, including some of the most accomplished AI engineers, researchers, and builders in the world. Inflection AI, founded in 2022, had previously focused on developing AI systems that engage in open-ended dialogue and assist with various tasks, but will now shift its focus to the AI studio business.
As part of this transition, Inflection AI will host Inflection-2.5 on Microsoft Azure, expanding its reach to creators everywhere. Microsoft’s interest in creating a new AI unit has been evident for some time, as seen when they offered positions to OpenAI co-founders in December. Nadella emphasized the importance of boldly innovating in the AI space, as both the company and the world enter the second year of the AI platform shift. Microsoft’s aggressive hiring strategy under Nadella’s leadership reflects its commitment to advancing its AI capabilities.