Microsoft CEO Defends OpenAI Partnership After EU, UK Probes… 

Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella on Tuesday defended his company’s multi-billion-dollar investment in ChatGPT developer OpenAI after the EU and Britain launched probes into whether it resembles a merger.

Nadella was speaking on the sidelines during an event organised by Bloomberg at the World Economic Forum in the Swiss Alpine resort of Davos.

“If we want competition in AI against some of the players who are completely already integrated, I think partnerships is one avenue of, in fact, having competition,” Nadella said.

Microsoft has poured billions of dollars since 2019 into OpenAI, which thrust AI into the spotlight with its chatbot, ChatGPT in late 2022.

ChatGPT demonstrated AI’s dizzying advances as it could produce eloquent poetry and concise essays within seconds as well as pass medical and legal exams.

But with popularity came greater scrutiny and now anti-trust regulators in the European Union and Britain are examining the Microsoft-OpenAI partnership.

OpenAI faced a tumultuous period late last year when its CEO Sam Altman was ousted then made a shock return, all while he maintained Nadella’s support.

Nadella said Microsoft now just wanted “stability in the partnership”.

He also seemed confident about limiting the risks of AI on elections as billions prepare to head to the polls this year, including in the United States, where Microsoft is based.