Microsoft invests $13b in ChatGPT maker OpenAI

Aim is to gain access to popular and advanced Al systems

Microsoft is investing US$10 billion (S$13.2 billion) in OpenAI, whose artificial intelligence (AI) tool ChatGPT has lit up the Internet since its introduction in November, amassing more than a million users within days and touching off a fresh debate over the role of AI in the workplace.

The new support, building on the US$1 billion that Microsoft poured into OpenAI in 2019 and another round in 2021, is intended to give Microsoft access to some of the most popular and advanced AI systems. Microsoft is competing with Alphabet, Amazon.com, and Meta Platforms to dominate the fast-growing technology that generates text, images, and other media in response to a short prompt.

At the same time, OpenAI needs Microsoft's funding and cloud computing power to crunch massive volumes of data and run the increasingly complex models that allow programs like DALL-E to generate realistic images based on a handful of words, and ChatGPT to create astonishingly human-like conversational text.

While Microsoft did not give details of the new investment, a person familiar with the discussions, who asked not to be identified because the information is not public, said it totals US$10 billion over multiple years. Microsoft shares gained 1 percent to US$242.58 in New York on Monday.