Microsoft was worried OpenAI would run off to Amazon and ‘shit-talk’ Azure

Court documents from the Musk v. Altman trial show Microsoft executives discussing early OpenAI investment and worrying the startup might “storm off to Amazon” and “shit-talk” Azure while the companies were negotiating their AI partnership. The emails offer a rare look at how seriously Microsoft treated OpenAI’s leverage in 2017, right after OpenAI’s Dota 2 bot beat a professional player, and how quickly the relationship moved beyond a simple congratulatory exchange into a major strategic deal.

OpenAI CEO Sam Altman and Microsoft CTO Kevin Scott. | Image: Getty Images When OpenAI was busy experimenting with AI-powered gaming bots, Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella and OpenAI CEO Sam Altman were in the early days of forming an AI partnership. Court documents from the ongoing Musk v. Altman trial have provided a rare look at the communications between Microsoft's top executives about investing in OpenAI and fears the AI startup could "storm off to Amazon" and "shit-talk" Microsoft. Just days after OpenAI showed a bot beating a Dota 2 professional in the summer of 2017, Altman responded to Nadella's congratulations email with a proposal for a much bigger partnership with OpenAI to fund its next phase of AI resear … Read the full story at The Verge.