2025-09-12
OpenAI and Microsoft have reached a tentative deal, and OpenAI says its nonprofit will get a stake of over $100 billion, or 20%, in the new for-profit. That implies Microsoft's stake would be worth at least $165 billion on paper, based on previously reported figures. [image]
Axios
OpenAI and Microsoft say they “signed a non-binding memorandum of understanding for the next phase of our partnership”, and are working to finalize the terms
OpenAI and Microsoft said Thursday they have reached preliminary terms on a revised partnership and are “actively working to finalize” a definitive agreement.
2025-06-26
Scoop: We got new details of the ongoing negotiations between OpenAI and Microsoft over “AGI” and “sufficient AGI,” two tricky clauses in their contract that could determine the future of their partnership. w/ @steph_palazzolo @amir [image]
Wall Street Journal
Sources: Microsoft is pushing to remove the AGI clause from its OpenAI contract, which lets OpenAI limit Microsoft's access to its IP once its systems reach AGI
Silicon Valley is at odds over whether AI can reach and exceed humanlike intelligence, a milestone with major implications …
2025-03-08
News: MSFT staff under Mustafa Suleyman have trained a new family of models, dubbed MAI, that they think stack up with top models from OpenAI, Anthropic, etc. Suleyman's unit is also developing reasoning models: that could compete with o1/o3: https://www.theinformation.com/ ...
The Information
Source: Microsoft has completed training a family of models, codenamed MAI, and is experimenting with swapping out OpenAI's models in Copilot for the MAI models
Aaron Holmes / The Information :
2025-01-22
Microsoft says it's no longer OpenAI's exclusive cloud provider, instead moving to “a model where Microsoft has a right of first refusal” over where OpenAI runs in the cloud. Comes as OpenAI announces a $500b data center project with Oracle: https://blogs.microsoft.com/ ...
TechCrunch
Microsoft says it has signed a new deal with OpenAI that gives Microsoft “right of first refusal”, meaning it's no longer OpenAI's exclusive cloud provider
Microsoft was once the exclusive provider of data center infrastructure for OpenAI to train and run its AI models. No longer.
Microsoft previously let OpenAI do a data center deal with Oracle in October. At the time this was a one-off, but Microsoft now says OpenAI can seek deals with other clouds whenever Microsoft is unable to provide the capacity OAI wants. https://www.theinformation.com/ ...
TechCrunch
Microsoft says it has signed a new deal with OpenAI that gives Microsoft “right of first refusal”, meaning it's no longer OpenAI's exclusive cloud provider
Microsoft was once the exclusive provider of data center infrastructure for OpenAI to train and run its AI models. No longer.
2024-12-27
OpenAI can't just declare AGI whenever it wants and be free of Microsoft. The companies actually have a contractual definition of AGI: a system that can generate $100 billion in profits. Great reporting from @amir and @steph_palazzolo: https://www.theinformation.com/ ...
The Information
An undisclosed 2023 agreement between Microsoft and OpenAI defines achieving AGI as the point when OpenAI develops AI systems that generate $100B+ in profits
Finally, a verifiable, numbers-based description of artificial general intelligence has arrived!
2024-12-26
OpenAI can't just declare AGI whenever it wants and be free of Microsoft. The companies actually have a contractual definition of AGI: a system that can generate $100 billion in profits. Great reporting from @amir and @steph_palazzolo: https://www.theinformation.com/ ...
The Information
An undisclosed 2023 agreement between Microsoft and OpenAI defines achieving AGI as the point when OpenAI develops AI systems that generate $100B+ in profits
Finally, a verifiable, numbers-based description of artificial general intelligence has arrived!
2024-12-11
Scoop: Google has asked the FTC to look into breaking up OpenAI's exclusive cloud deal with Microsoft. The conversations took place after the FTC reached out to question Google as part of its broader probe into Microsoft. https://www.theinformation.com/ ...
The Information
Source: Google asked the US to break up Microsoft's exclusive agreement to host OpenAI's tech on Azure, after the FTC asked Google about Microsoft's practices
Google recently asked the U.S. government to break up Microsoft's exclusive agreement to host OpenAI's technology on its cloud servers …
2024-08-25
As the dust settles from the Crowdstrike outage, Microsoft plans to convene security companies in Redmond next month to discuss changes to Windows. MSFT has said it's thinking about limiting kernel access for third parties. Details: https://www.theinformation.com/ ...
CNBC
Microsoft plans to hold an event on September 10 with CrowdStrike and other cybersecurity vendors to discuss how to prevent incidents like the July 19 outage
Microsoft said Friday it will hold a conference in September for cybersecurity firms to discuss ways the industry can evolve following …
2024-08-24
As the dust settles from the Crowdstrike outage, Microsoft plans to convene security companies in Redmond next month to discuss changes to Windows. MSFT has said it's thinking about limiting kernel access for third parties. Details: https://www.theinformation.com/ ...
CNBC
Microsoft plans to hold an event on September 10 with CrowdStrike and other cybersecurity vendors to discuss how to prevent incidents like the July 19 outage
Microsoft said Friday it will hold a conference in September for cybersecurity firms to discuss ways the industry can evolve following …
2024-08-01
New: TikTok is the largest buyer of OpenAI's models from Microsoft. The company was spending nearly $20M per month on the models earlier this year, which accounted for 1/4 of Microsoft's sales of OpenAI models. Details: https://www.theinformation.com/ ...
The Information
Source: TikTok was paying Microsoft ~$20M/month to use OpenAI's models in Azure OpenAI Service as of March, ~25% of the total revenue the service was generating
2024-07-16
New: Four of Wiz's biggest backers collectively stand to return at least $7 billion on their investments if the $23b Google acquisition goes through. Also: Wiz has $500m ARR; targeting $1b this year; had $100m in losses over past year https://www.theinformation.com/ ...
The Information
Sources: Index is Wiz's largest outside shareholder, with an 11%+ stake; Sequoia owns 10%+, Insight owns ~9%, Greenoaks owns ~5%, and Cyberstarts owns ~4%
The Information :
2024-06-16
New: Sam Altman has told shareholders that OpenAI is considering becoming a for-profit company that would no longer be controlled by a nonprofit board https://www.theinformation.com/ ...
The Information
Source: Altman told investors that OpenAI could become a for-profit business not controlled by its nonprofit board; Microsoft execs favor a for-profit option
OpenAI CEO Sam Altman recently told some shareholders that the artificial intelligence developer is considering changing …
2024-05-07
In a LinkedIn post just now, Microsoft CTO Kevin Scott confirms my report this morning that MAI is Microsoft's new AI model in the works (while tamping down hype): [image]
The Information
Sources: Microsoft is training MAI-1, a new, in-house AI model with ~500B parameters, large enough to compete with top models from Google, Anthropic, and OpenAI
Scoop: Microsoft is training its own large language model, internally labaled MAI-1, with Mustafa Suleyman leading the effort. The model is around 500B parameters and could compete directly with LLMs from Google, OpenAI, etc. Details: https://www.theinformation.com/ ...
The Information
Sources: Microsoft is training MAI-1, a new, in-house AI model with ~500B parameters, large enough to compete with top models from Google, Anthropic, and OpenAI
2024-03-22
SCOOP: Microsoft is paying Inflection $650 million to license its software, as it hires nearly all Inflection staff. Inflection is using that money to pay its investors a positive return. w/ @Jessicalessin @nmasc_ https://www.theinformation.com/ ...
The Information
Source: Microsoft agreed to pay Inflection ~$650M when hiring its staff, mostly via a licensing deal that makes Inflection's models available for sale on Azure
2024-02-15
NEW: OpenAI is developing a new web search product that would bring it into more direct competition with Google. Bing is involved. Still unclear how exactly this would differ from the Bing-enabled web search features in ChatGPT https://www.theinformation.com/ ...
The Information
Source: OpenAI has been developing a web search product partly powered by Bing
OpenAI has been developing a web search product that would bring the Microsoft-backed startup into more direct competition with Google, according to someone with knowledge of OpenA...
2023-11-19
NEW: In an all-hands just now, OpenAI's interim CEO assured staff its relationship w/ MSFT is stable. Meanwhile, MSFT leaders were blindsided by Sam Altman's ouster today. He met with MSFT as recently as yesterday. https://www.theinformation.com/ ...
The Information
Sources: OpenAI Interim CEO Mira Murati tried to calm shell-shocked employees in a companywide meeting following Sam Altman's firing
More senior staff are following Greg Brockman lead and resigning from the company after Sam was ousted. … X: Anissa Gardizy / @anissagardizy8 : OpenAI Interim CEO Mira Murati told ...
NEW: In an all-hands just now, OpenAI's interim CEO assured staff its relationship w/ MSFT is stable. Meanwhile, MSFT leaders were blindsided by Sam Altman's ouster today. He met with MSFT as recently as yesterday. https://www.theinformation.com/ ...
Axios
OpenAI memo: Sam Altman's firing wasn't due to “malfeasance” or related to financial, business, safety, or security practices but a “breakdown in communication”
Team - after yesterday's announcement, which took us all by surprise, we have had multiple conversations …
SCOOP: OpenAI's planned $86b share sale is now in jeopardy. People participating in the sale say they no longer expect it to go through at that price. w/ @KateClarkTweets @jon_victor_ https://www.theinformation.com/ ...
Semafor
Sources: OpenAI has received only a fraction of Microsoft's $10B investment, a big portion of which is in cloud purchases, giving Microsoft significant leverage
Only a fraction of Microsoft's $10 billion investment in OpenAI has been wired to the startup, while a significant portion of the funding …