A Microsoft spokesperson said that the company remains positive about continuing its relationship with Bubeck through his future work with OpenAI. “Sebastien has decided to leave Microsoft to further his work toward developing AGI,” the spokesperson said as per a Reuters report, indicating that the collaboration between Microsoft and OpenAI will not be hindered by this change. Bubeck, however, has not yet provided any personal comments on the move.
Bubeck’s departure is notable, but it appears that his former colleagues who coauthored a research paper on Microsoft’s Phi LLMs, a project focusing on developing smaller, more efficient language models than traditional large language models (LLMs), will continue their work at Microsoft. According to reports, the team plans to advance the development of these models, indicating that Bubeck’s departure might not significantly disrupt Microsoft’s AI research efforts.
Interestingly, this news follows a wave of exits from OpenAI itself, including the departure of its longtime chief technology officer, Mira Murati, in September. Despite these changes, OpenAI’s CEO, Sam Altman, has denied that any of the recent departures are linked to the company’s ongoing restructuring plans.
Bubeck’s move also comes at a time when the relationship between Microsoft and OpenAI has shown signs of strain. Reports have suggested that OpenAI is seeking greater independence from Microsoft’s cloud services, even leasing data centres from Oracle in Texas to diversify its infrastructure. In addition, OpenAI recently raised a remarkable $6.6 billion in one of the largest venture capital rounds in U.S. history, further fuelling its ambitions.
With Bubeck joining OpenAI during such a transformative period for both companies, the implications for the future of AI and AGI are significant. His expertise could potentially accelerate OpenAI’s progress, while Microsoft continues to build upon its AI foundations without him.
( With Reuters inputs)