Seattle, WA – Emails disclosed in the recent antitrust case against Google by the Department of Justice shed light on the competitive dynamics within today’s rapidly evolving AI landscape. The revelations show a blend of fear, jealousy, and intense capitalist ambition among Microsoft executives towards Google’s AI advancements, prompting the Windows maker to make a significant billion-dollar investment in its strategic partner, OpenAI.
In a 2019 email thread titled “Thoughts on OpenAI,” Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella expressed concern and urgency after receiving a detailed message from CTO Kevin Scott about Google’s dominating presence in AI innovation. Scott highlighted Google’s rapid progress in developing AI models, particularly pointing out the success of their AlphaGo models. This success, including defeating a world champion in Go, caught the attention of Microsoft executives, leading to a reassessment of their own AI capabilities.
The emails revealed how Microsoft struggled to replicate Google’s advanced AI models due to infrastructure limitations and delays in model training. Scott emphasized the challenges they faced in catching up with Google’s BERT-large model and acknowledged the significant gap between the two companies in terms of AI scale and capabilities. He also commended Google’s AI advancements, particularly in areas like natural language processing, which Microsoft was striving to match but falling short.
Despite acknowledging the talent within Microsoft’s machine learning teams, Scott pointed out the constraints they faced in scaling up their ambitions compared to competitors like Google. He highlighted the importance of investing in cutting-edge AI technology to keep pace with the rapidly evolving landscape, prompting the company to fulfill Nadella’s wish by investing a billion dollars in OpenAI in 2019.
The investment marked a significant milestone in Microsoft’s AI strategy, aligning them closer with OpenAI’s innovative approach to AI research and development. This strategic partnership has since evolved, with Microsoft continuing to invest in OpenAI and positioning itself at the forefront of AI innovation. The developments in AI technology have opened up new possibilities but also raised concerns about potential impacts on the labor market and the spread of misinformation in the digital age.