British DeepMind co-founder Mustafa Suleyman joins Microsoft

British artificial intelligence pioneer Mustafa Suleyman has announced he is joining Microsoft to lead the tech giant’s newly created AI division.

Mr Suleyman is currently in charge of start-up Inflection AI, but is best known for founding AI company DeepMind, one of the UK’s best known firms in the sector, which was bought by Google in 2014.

The capture of such a high-profile figure to lead Microsoft AI is seen as proof of Microsoft’s position as a leader in the artificial intelligence sector, with the company already closely linked to ChatGPT maker OpenAI and having created the Copilot AI chatbot and assistant tool.

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…

— Mustafa Suleyman (@mustafasuleyman) March 19, 2024

In a post to X, formerly Twitter, Mr Suleyman said: “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 Karen Simonyan will be Chief Scientist, and several of our amazing teammates have chosen to join us.

“Inflection AI 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.”

Microsoft chief executive Satya Nadella confirmed Mr Suleyman would join the Microsoft senior leadership team and report directly to him.

He said the British AI expert was “a visionary, product maker, and builder of pioneering teams that go after bold missions”.

Mr Nadella also confirmed that “several members” of the Inflection AI team had also “chosen to join Mustafa and Karen” at Microsoft.

“I am excited for them to contribute their knowledge, talent, and expertise to our consumer AI research and product making,” he said.

“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 organisation on the planet, safely and responsibly.”