Microsoft’s collaboration with OpenAI stemmed from a desire to compete with Google’s AI advancements.

In a recent development in the Department of Justice’s antitrust case against Google, emails have revealed the extent of Microsoft executives’ concern and envy over Google’s advancements in artificial intelligence (AI). The emails shed light on how Microsoft struggled to keep up with Google’s AI capabilities, particularly in the realm of machine learning.

CTO Kevin Scott expressed his deep worry about Google’s rapid progress in AI, admitting that Microsoft was multiple years behind the competition in terms of ML scale. The executives at Microsoft were particularly impressed by Google’s BERT-large model, which deciphers the meaning and context of words in a sentence. It took Microsoft six hours to replicate Google’s model, highlighting the significant gap between the two tech giants.

The emails also referenced Gmail’s autocomplete features, which Microsoft execs described as “scary good.” This admiration for Google’s AI prowess ultimately led Microsoft to make a billion-dollar push into OpenAI in 2019, with subsequent investments totaling $13 billion.

The revelations from these emails underscore the fierce competition and technological race between major tech companies like Google and Microsoft. As AI continues to play a crucial role in shaping the future of technology, it is clear that staying ahead in this field is a top priority for industry leaders. The implications of these developments could have far-reaching effects on the tech landscape and the future of innovation.