Microsoft’s $10 billion investment in ChatGPT and OpenAI

Josip Vojak
4 min readJan 13, 2023
Did Microsoft win the long lasting battle after all?

ChatGPT and its capabilities

The tech world has been buzzing about ChatGPT for weeks now. ChatGPT is a natural language processing model, meaning it generates text that appears as though a human wrote it. It’s a variant of the GPT-3 family of large language models, and has been used for everything from developing code to writing college essays.

Microsoft’s $10 billion investment in OpenAI and ChatGPT

Microsoft is reportedly planning to invest $10 billion in OpenAI, the startup behind ChatGPT. According to a report from Semafor, the deal is part of a funding round that would value OpenAI at a whopping $29 billion. Other investors are also involved, but it’s unclear whether the deal has been finalized. Term sheets sent to prospective investors indicate that the plan is to close the deal by the end of 2022.

Potential impact on web search and competition with Google

The investment could help Microsoft boost its efforts in web search, a market currently dominated by Google. Bing, Microsoft’s browser, only has a small share of the global search engine market. However, the deal could help the company chip away at Google’s dominance by offering more advanced search capabilities.

Discussion of the future of generative AI technology

In December, Morgan Stanley published a report examining whether ChatGPT is a threat to Google. Brian Nowak, the bank’s lead analyst on Alphabet, wrote that language models could take market share “and disrupt Google’s position as the entry point for people on the Internet.”

OpenAI, which was founded in 2015, launched ChatGPT to the public in late November. Despite optimism over its potential, the project is burning through cash due to the overwhelming level of pressure on its servers arising from its virality. Five days after OpenAI released ChatGPT, Altman said that the chat research tool crossed 1 million users.

Microsoft will reportedly get a 75% share of OpenAI’s profits until it makes back the money on its investment, after which the company would assume a 49% stake in OpenAI.

“It has already been a home run partly because Satya was prescient enough to make the bet three years ago, and because all applications will be generative in the future,” Matt McIlwain, a managing partner at Seattle’s Madrona Venture Group.

The new generative A.I. technologies could reinvent everything from online search engines like Google to digital assistants like Alexa and Siri. Microsoft’s investment in OpenAI and ChatGPT could be a major step forward in that direction.

Conclusion

ChatGPT is a game-changer in the world of AI and natural language processing. It’s ability to generate text that appears as though it’s written by a human has made it a popular tool for a wide range of applications.

Microsoft’s reported $10 billion investment in OpenAI and ChatGPT is a big bet on the future of AI and its potential to revolutionize industries like web search. While it’s unclear whether the deal has been finalized, it’s clear that Microsoft sees the potential for ChatGPT to help them take on the dominance of Google in the search engine market.

It’s also worth noting that this investment is not only about the search engine market, but it’s also about the future of generative AI technology and its potential to change the way we interact with technology. As it was said in the article — “all applications will be generative in the future.”.

All in all, Microsoft’s reported investment in OpenAI and ChatGPT is a big move that could have major implications for the future of AI and web search. Only time will tell how this investment will play out, but one thing is for sure, the world of AI is constantly evolving, and it will be exciting to see how ChatGPT will shape the future.

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Sources:

  1. https://www.semafor.com/article/01/09/2023/microsoft-eyes-10-billion-bet-on-chatgpt
  2. https://www.nytimes.com/2023/01/12/technology/microsoft-openai-chatgpt.html
  3. https://www.cnbc.com/2023/01/10/microsoft-to-invest-10-billion-in-chatgpt-creator-openai-report-says.html
  4. https://www.forbes.com/sites/dereksaul/2023/01/10/microsoft-reportedly-closing-in-on-10-billion-investment-into-chatgpt-creator-openai/

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Software architect (AWS Certified) and a former professional volleyball player.