Microsoft has announced the creation of a new division called "Microsoft AI." It will be led by Mustafa Suleyman, a DeepMind and Inflection co-founder.
Mustafa Suleyman will work as the EVP and CEO of Microsoft AI and he will report directly to Satya Nadella, Microsoft CEO. Karen Simonyan, another co-founder of Inflection, is joining the team as Chief Scientist, reporting to Mustafa. According to a post on the official Microsoft website, Mustafa and Karen "have designed, led, launched, and co-authored many of the most important contributions in advancing AI over the last five years."
As part of the transition, Mikhail Parakhin and his entire team, which includes Microsoft Edge, Copilot, and Bing, will move to the new division along with Misha Bilenko and the GenAI team. Both will report directly to Mustafa Suleyman.
Kevin Scott will remain CTO and EVP of AI, "responsible for all-up AI strategy." Also, Rajesh Jha is still EVP of Experience and Devices and will continue building Copilot for Microsoft 365 in partnership with Mustafa Suleyman.
Curiously, there is not a single word about the Windows division, which recently received a new head following Panos Panay"s departure from Microsoft. Windows is scheduled to get a big AI boost this year, so it will be interesting to see its relation to the new Microsoft AI division. Although the blog post has not mentioned Windows 11, it is obvious that the company will only increase its investments in AI-powered experiences, and that will affect all of its consumer and commercial products.
Satya Nadella closed the announcement with the following:
We have a real shot to build technology that was once thought impossible and that lives up to our mission to ensure the benefits of AI reach every person and organization on the planet, safely and responsibly. I’m looking forward to doing so with you.
You can read Satya"s full message here.