News Summary

The relationship between Microsoft and OpenAI has experienced new tensions following Microsoft’s hiring of Mustafa Suleyman, previously of DeepMind and Inflection. Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff highlighted the growing rift while speaking at Davos, noting that the two AI leaders, Sam Altman of OpenAI and Suleyman, do not have a cordial relationship. OpenAI has recently partnered with SoftBank and Oracle on a significant $500 billion data center project, signaling a move away from exclusive reliance on Microsoft’s cloud services. This decision comes as OpenAI seeks increased data center capacity, which Microsoft may not be willing or able to provide. Benioff, whose company Salesforce utilizes OpenAI’s enterprise models and invests in OpenAI rival Anthropic, views the situation as beneficial. He pointed out that Microsoft’s recent AI initiatives did not mention OpenAI, suggesting a potential strategic pivot.