Microsoft and OpenAI’s collaboration stemmed from a desire to rival Google’s AI capabilities

In a recent development in the Department of Justice’s antitrust case against Google, emails have surfaced revealing the extent of Microsoft executives’ concern and envy over Google’s advancements in artificial intelligence (AI).

The emails, which were part of a thread, showed Microsoft’s Chief Technology Officer Kevin Scott expressing deep worry about Google’s rapid progress in AI. Scott admitted to initially dismissing Google’s “game-playing stunts,” likely referring to their AlphaGo models. The emails also mentioned Google’s Gmail autocomplete features, which Microsoft executives found to be “scary good.”

Microsoft struggled to replicate Google’s BERT-large AI model, which deciphers the meaning and context of words in a sentence. It took Microsoft six hours to replicate the model, while Google continued to forge ahead with more sophisticated and larger models.

Scott acknowledged that Microsoft had talented individuals on its machine-learning teams but admitted that their ambitions had been stifled. He noted that the company was “multiple years behind the competition in terms of ML scale,” prompting a billion-dollar investment in OpenAI in 2019, with a subsequent $13 billion investment.

This revelation sheds light on the fierce competition in the tech industry, particularly in the realm of AI, where companies like Google are leading the way with innovative advancements. Microsoft’s response to Google’s AI lead underscores the importance of staying ahead in the rapidly evolving field of artificial intelligence.