Unearthed emails between Microsoft’s CEO and CTO show concern about Google’s AI progress and could be the impetus for its partnership with OpenAI.
Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella and CTO Kevin Scott on concerns about Google’s advances in AI. In the 2019 email, first reported by Business Insider, the Microsoft executive wrote that he was “very concerned” about Google’s AI advances. Now there is suspicion that Microsoft’s OpenAI investment may have been motivated by concerns about Google’s AI development.
“Very, very worried”
An email titled “Thoughts on OpenAI” that surfaced in the Justice Department’s antitrust case against Google said Microsoft executive Satya Nadella was “very, very concerned” about Google’s AI developments in 2019.
For example, Microsoft’s CTO wrote to Satya Nadella and Bill Gates that Google’s AI-powered “autocomplete in Gmail” was becoming “shockingly good.” It is now suspected that the collaboration between Microsoft and OpenAI is motivated by these expressed concerns about Google’s progress.