ChatGPT creator OpenAI and Microsoft are clashing behind the scenes

OpenAI and Microsoft’s partnership might have hit some rocky waters, as the two companies are struggling to find a way to work in the same business.

Microsoft and OpenAI, the creator of ChatGPT, have a unique partnership within the tech world. Microsoft invested enough cash in the start-up to have a 49% stake in the company, while OpenAI hosts its technology on Microsoft’s servers.

The partnership also allows Microsoft to laud over the competition, as GPT-4 powers things like the new Bing AI, and integrates it into applications like Office. At Build, Microsoft’s developer conference, the two announced that Windows 11 would be getting AI support via Copilot.

However, this doesn’t mean that OpenAI is exclusive to Microsoft, but is instead more like an open relationship. Under the surface, things aren’t as great as they seem. As reported by the Wall Street Journal, it appears that staff on the inside aren’t especially happy with the arrangement.

OpenAI launched ChatGPT surprisingly quickly. It took Microsoft and Google by surprise, with Google Bard only launching fairly recently. One example given is that Microsoft sales teams often find that they’ve pitched to the same companies as OpenAI.

Microsoft and OpenAI hit rocky waters

OpenAI

Speaking with WSJ, Oren Etzioni, founder of the Allen Institute for Artificial Intelligence said:

“What puts them in more of a collision course is both sides need to make money.

“The conflict is they’ll both be trying to make money with similar products.”

This includes things like Salesforce partnering with OpenAI to launch Einstein GPT. The content generator directly competes with Microsoft Office’s new suite of features. This has led the two companies to ship similar products, powered by the same technology.

Another aspect of the internal strife is that most of Microsoft has no access to the inner workings of GPT, or OpenAI’s tech. This has left those teams and researchers out in the cold, and this has also been exasperated by OpenAI saying to slow down on integration.

As expected, when Microsoft launched Bing AI, it was an unhinged menace and would be rude to the users. It took a few days for any issues surrounding this to be ironed out.