Microsoft Launches A New AI Division, Former DeepMind CEO Mustafa Suleyman Hired As CEO

Microsoft has launched a new division called Microsoft AI, which will be headed by none other than DeepMind’s co-founder and former CEO, Mustafa Sulayman. News related to the development broke out on March 19, 2024, when both Microsoft’s CEO and Mustafa posted on the official X accounts (formerly known as Twitter). Let’s look at what’s happening in the company and Mustafa’s role at Microsoft AI.

Mustafa Joins As Microsoft AI’s CEO

In a communication with Microsoft employees, the CEO, Satya Nadella, wrote the following, “I’m very excited to announce that Mustafa Suleyman and Karen Simonyan are joining Microsoft to form a new organization called Microsoft AI, focused on advancing Copilot and our other consumer AI products and research.” Further, Nadella clarifies that Mustafa will be the EVP and CEO at Microsoft AI, while Karen joins as the Chief Scientist.

As part of the transition, Copilot, Bing, Edge, and the GenAI team will now report to Mustafa, who is also the vice president of Microsoft AI. Along with Mustafa and Karen, several Inflection members, including AI engineers and researchers, have joined Microsoft. Kevin Scott continues as the CTO and EVP of AI, while Rajesh Jha continues as the EVP of Experiences and Devices.

Here’s How The AI Visionary Started His Career With DeepMind

Back in 2010, Mustafa co-founded one of the earliest AI-focused startups., DeepMind. Initially, the company aimed to develop artificial general intelligence, a type of AI that could mimic human intelligence and learning. In January 2014, Google acquired DeepMind for around $500 million in a landmark deal. The search giant recognized the immense potential of AI and DeepMind’s work and brought the company under its roof.

In 2015, the company unveiled AlphaGo, the first computer program that defeated the Go world champion. Subsequent company projects include AlphaStar, WaveNet, AlphaFold, AlphaCode, AlphaDev, and other enterprise-focused solutions. However, in 2019, Mustafa left the company, and about three years later, he founded Inflection AI, another startup focused on developing and applying machine learning and generative AI.

The company made the personal AI assistant Pi, which recently surpassed one million daily active users. However, going forward, Inflection AI will function under the guidance of a new CEO.

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