Microsoft has partnered with artificial intelligence (AI) research company OpenAI to solve global issues using AI. The partnership will add to Microsoft Azure’s AI capabilities and give OpenAI a cash injection of US$1 billion to power its efforts towards artificial general intelligence (AGI), giving machines the capacity to understand and learn intellectual tasks that a human being can. 

By working together, the companies aim to create a computational platform in Azure, which will train and run advanced AI models, while adhering to the two companies’ shared principles on ethics and trust. The intended outcome will be a safe and secure foundation for advancements in AI to be implemented. 

“The creation of AGI will be the most important technological development in human history, with the potential to shape the trajectory of humanity,” said Sam Altman, CEO of OpenAI. “Our mission is to ensure that AGI technology benefits all of humanity, and we’re working with Microsoft to build the supercomputing foundation on which we’ll build AGI. We believe it’s crucial that AGI is deployed safely and securely and that its economic benefits are widely distributed. We are excited about how deeply Microsoft shares this vision.”

While current systems work well for the specific problem on which they have been trained, they cannot be used for other tasks. Microsoft and OpenAI are planning to create AI that will work with experts to help solve global issues such as climate change, as well as personalised healthcare and education. 

“AI is one of the most transformative technologies of our time and has the potential to help solve many of our world’s most pressing challenges,” said Satya Nadella, CEO of Microsoft. “By bringing together OpenAI’s breakthrough technology with new Azure AI supercomputing technologies, our ambition is to democratise AI — while always keeping AI safety front and centre — so everyone can benefit.”

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