Microsoft has unveiled its plans to establish a new artificial intelligence (AI) hub in London, with a focus on both product development and research. Mustafa Suleyman, the London-born cofounder of Google DeepMind who recently joined Microsoft, will lead the unit.
"Microsoft AI London will drive pioneering work to advance state-of-the-art language models and their supporting infrastructure, and to create world-class tooling for foundation models, collaborating closely with our AI teams across Microsoft and with our partners, including OpenAI," Suleyman stated in a blog post.
As the primary backer of ChatGPT-maker OpenAI, Microsoft stands as a global leader in the swiftly evolving AI landscape.
However, competition for AI talent has intensified across Europe in the past 18 months. Microsoft may aim to attract experts from other AI-focused companies like DeepMind or OpenAI to staff its new unit.
Last month, Microsoft brought onboard DeepMind cofounder Suleyman to lead its in-house Microsoft AI division.
Suleyman departed from his recently-established company, Inflection AI, to join Microsoft, bringing along several staff members.
While the exact number of jobs to be created by the new center remains uncertain, the announcement underscores Microsoft's recent commitment to invest 2.5 billion pounds ($3.16 billion) into data center infrastructure and enhancing AI skills across Britain.
The addition of the Microsoft AI London hub complements Microsoft's existing presence in the U.K., which includes the Microsoft Research Cambridge lab, housing some of the foremost researchers in AI, cloud, and productivity areas.
"I know – through my close work with thought leaders in the UK Government, business community, and academia – that the country is committed to advancing AI responsibly and with a safety-first commitment to drive investment, innovation, and economic growth," Suleyman wrote in a company blog post.
"Our decision to open this hub in the UK reflects this ambition," he concluded.
(Reuters)
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