His team will be responsible for spearheading a project called Microsoft AI, focused on advancing Copilot chatbot, Bing and Edge and other consumer AI products and research.
Suleyman left his role at Google in 2022 before launching Inflection alongside Simonyan. In June Inflection raised $1.3bn from both Nvidia and Microsoft.
On LinkedIn Suleyman said of his new role, “I’m excited to announce that today I’m joining Microsoft as CEO of Microsoft AI. I’ll be leading all consumer AI products and research, including Copilot, Bing and Edge. My friend and longtime collaborator Karén Simonyan will be chief scientist, and several of our amazing teammates have chosen to join us.
Inflection will continue on its mission under a new CEO and look to reach more people than ever by making its API widely available to developers and businesses the world over.
It’s been an amazing journey, with so much more to come. Thank you to everyone for your support. Things really are just getting started.”
Suleyman will report directly to Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella, chief executive officer in his new role as EVP and CEO joining the senior leadership team.
Simonyan, a renowned AI researcher and thought leader, joins as chief scientist having previously led the development of some of the most significant AI advancements over the last 10 years including AlphaZero.
Microsoft say that Suleyman’s team who have left Infliction to join him are ‘accomplished AI engineers, researchers, and builders in the world. They have designed, led, launched, and co-authored many of the most important contributions in advancing AI over the last five years.’
Nadella, commented, “Our AI innovation continues to build on our most strategic and important partnership with OpenAI. We will continue to build AI infrastructure inclusive of custom systems and silicon work in support of OpenAI’s foundation model roadmap, and also innovate and build products on top of their foundation models."
He continued: “we have been operating with speed and intensity and this infusion of new talent will enable us to accelerate our pace yet again.
“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.”
The news comes after Nadella tried to recruit OpenAI CEO Sam Altman for a similar role after he was overthrown by the Open AI board in November.
Altman and Greg Brockman, the OpenAI president, announced they were joining Microsoft at the end of last year.
Nedella said at the time to Bloomberg TV, "Irrespective of where Sam is, he's working with Microsoft." Microsoft have made investments in AI that are reported to be up to $13 billion.
