Leaked internal Microsoft correspondence reveals the company's ambition to catch up with Google in AI

Internal Microsoft emails that have entered the public domain reveal the company's intense drive to catch up with Google in the field of artificial intelligence (AI).

Here's What We Know

In one of the 2019 emails, Chief Technology Officer Kevin Scott expressed deep concern about Microsoft lagging behind Google in AI development. Scott admitted that he had underestimated competitors' investments and admitted that Microsoft was "several years behind" in machine learning. This lag was evident when trying to replicate Google's BERT big language model.

Despite having a model template, Microsoft's infrastructure limitations resulted in a nearly six-month delay in training compared to Google. This advantage allowed Google to refine BERT and develop even larger models, leading to significant improvements in Gmail's autocomplete feature and search query answering. According to Scott, competitors' performance in these areas increased by 10 percentage points.

Consequently, Microsoft partnered with OpenAI in 2019, investing $1 billion. Since then, the collaboration has deepened significantly and Microsoft's total investment is estimated at over $13 billion (as of 1 May 2024). This significant investment highlights Microsoft's aggressive pursuit of AI dominance, which is critical to competing with Google and maintaining its technological status.

Source: IT Home