(Bloomberg) — Earlier this week, Microsoft named artificial intelligence pioneer Mustafa Suleiman to head its consumer AI business, hiring most of the staff from his startup Inflection AI. The previous day, Bloomberg reported that Alphabet Inc.’s Google is in talks to license its Gemini AI engine to Apple.
Most Read Articles on Bloomberg
The moves suggest that Microsoft and Google are struggling to figure out how to leverage generative artificial intelligence, even as they pour billions of dollars into partnerships, investments and product development. Neither company has moved fast enough to develop consumer products that generate revenue and gain market share, and despite their size and influence, they remain vulnerable to disruption. .
While engineers struggle to perfect the large-scale language models that underpin technology, companies are forming alliances and searching the world for talent and promising startups.
To lead in generative AI, tech giants are assembling different pieces: computing power, best-in-class AI models, reliable and easy-to-use products, and how to bring them to people. is needed. None of the tech giants has all the ingredients. Once a pioneer in large-scale language models, Google continues to release products with worrying errors and biases. Microsoft has had a head start in having exclusive access to many of OpenAI’s breakthrough models, but it has never been adept at building exciting consumer products outside of video games. was.
Apple, which has lagged for years in artificial intelligence, is in exploratory talks with Baidu about using the Chinese company’s AI technology in devices sold in China to strengthen its capabilities in China. The Wall Street Journal reported on Friday. On the plus side, Apple sells the world’s most popular smartphones, and its App Store serves as a distribution platform for millions of apps. The company plans to announce its AI revival strategy in June.
“Even large technology companies and cloud providers with huge resources cannot innovate the entire generative AI ecosystem on their own,” said Ido Caspi, research analyst at GlobalX ETF. “Companies must always be looking for the best talent and technology to fill gaps in their portfolio.”
Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella is not satisfied with his team’s efforts to develop consumer products, according to two people familiar with his thinking. Over the past year, the company has been incorporating his AI into his Bing search engine, Windows, Office, and other products, and creating a variety of digital assistants under his new Copilot brand. But Bing has made little profit against search market leader Google, and has other products in development. OpenAI has given Microsoft a first-mover advantage, but the startup is focused on the underlying technology rather than developing products for the software giant.
That’s why Nadella hired Suleiman to be Microsoft AI’s executive vice president and CEO, and also hired Inflection AI co-founder Karen Simonian to be the new division’s chief scientist. Nadella needed someone to integrate and oversee product development, and he believes he found that person in Suleiman, with whom they bonded over conversations about how to tailor AI to individual users.
“All we’re really trying to do is create a true end-to-end product experience, so that users feel like there’s a seamless, fluid, human-like conversational interaction. ,” Suleiman said in an interview on Monday. He compares the work to sculpture, saying, “In art, you need to know the real sweet spot when the technology is ready, to give the experience an essence and a familiar, accessible, believable character.” We need to know what to do.” ”
Nadella also said that as AI completely transforms industries, even Microsoft’s flagship products will be vulnerable to disruption, whether by peers like Google or startups that haven’t yet been invented. I also know that I cannot escape it. “These businesses are big, so they’re going to get re-litigated at some point, right?” Nadella said in an interview. “So even incumbents cannot take that for granted.”
Nadella’s belief in Suleiman is not universally shared. During his time at Google’s DeepMind, Suleiman did not focus on consumer products. At Inflection AI, he oversaw the development of a chatbot he called Pi, designed to interact with users in a more human and supportive way. However, despite attracting 1 million daily active his users, this startup could not find his case for business. Suleiman was also accused of mistreating DeepMind employees. He admits he made a mistake and he says he learned from his experience. Still, it’s unclear how well he will work with Microsoft’s existing team.
The proposed partnership between Google and Apple is still under consideration, so there are few details about how exactly it would work. However, if this partnership goes through, it could help companies with their AI efforts.
Apple has been testing its own large-scale language model, codenamed Ajax, since early last year, according to people familiar with the situation. Some employees are also experimenting with a basic chatbot called Apple GPT. But the people said Apple’s technology remains inferior to tools from Google and other rivals, making a partnership seem like a better option. Apple may eventually partner with another company or companies, including OpenAI.
Google is racing to incorporate AI into its products, but the company is struggling to catch up with Microsoft, dogged by concerns that it is too slow to take advantage of market changes. Last month, the company discontinued its image-generating device amid criticism for inaccurate depictions of historical races. The deal with Apple is Gemini’s most high-profile partnership with Google to date, and could be a huge boon to the company’s AI efforts. Apple has more than 2 billion of his devices currently in use, and they could become the home of his Google Gemini later this year.
Pushing Google’s AI tools to as many devices as possible will encourage users to rely on them reflexively, similar to the company’s search engine, and the additional user data will make the program sharper, a virtuous cycle. may be born. Earlier this year, Google struck a deal with Samsung Electronics to integrate its Gemini technology into the South Korean company’s phones, a glimpse into how Google could leverage its relationships with Android device makers in the age of generative AI. Ta.
Industry observers expect technology companies to continue collaborating and investing in startups to enhance their services and avoid disruption. “They need each other, especially in areas like AI that require engineering expertise and a lot of computational power,” said Dan Wang, a professor of innovation and entrepreneurship at Columbia Business School. he said. “It’s a smart way for big tech companies to diversify their risk.” He added, “No one has really found a killer application yet that people are willing to pay for.”
–With assistance from Mark Bergen, Mark Gurman, and Julia Love.
(Updated to report that Apple is in talks to use Baidu’s AI technology.)
Most Read Articles on Bloomberg Businessweek
©2024 Bloomberg LP
