Microsoft’s worries doubled after Apple struck a deal with OpenAI to use its AI technology for Apple products, due to concerns of data center overwhelm, as reported by The Information.
OpenAI relies heavily on Microsoft servers and adding Apple users to this mix is likely to overwhelm Microsoft’s data centres, The Information wrote.
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Microsoft’s CEO Satya Nadella recently met with OpenAI’s CEO Sam Altman to discuss the deal. Satya Nadella was reportedly concerned about the potential impact of the deal on Microsoft’s product ambitions, as per the report.
Apart from the potential data overwhelm caused by more than 2.2 billion active Apple devices currently, Microsoft would also have to compete with whatever AI features Apple bakes into its platforms, Android Authority wrote.
Microsoft’s 13 billion USD investment into OpenAI in itself was driven by worries of falling behind Google, according to a Bloomberg report, citing an internal email as part of the Justice Department’s antitrust case against the search giant.
Microsoft’s CTO, Kevin Scott, was “very, very worried,” looking at gap between Alphabet Inc.’s efforts and Microsoft’s AI efforts, according to his 2019 message to Chief Executive Officer Satya Nadella and co-founder Bill Gates, as reported by Bloomberg.
The exchange showed that the company’s top executives privately acknowledged they lacked the infrastructure and development speed to catch up to the likes of OpenAI and Google’s DeepMind, leading to the investment.
“We are multiple years behind the competition in terms of machine learning scale,” Scott said in the email. Nadella endorsed Scott’s email, forwarding it to Chief Financial Officer Amy Hood and saying it explains “why I want us to do this,” according to the Bloomberg report.
The new features rolled out by Apple post this deal would be unveiled on June 10 at Apple’s Worldwide Developers Conference over at Apple Park in Cupertino, California.
