Major Shift: Microsoft AI VP Sebastien Bubeck Joins OpenAI Team

Sebastien Bubeck, Microsoft’s VP of Generative AI Research, is leaving to work for OpenAI. This represents a significant shift as Microsoft loses an AI expert and OpenAI gains a key contributor to Microsoft’s Phi models.

When Sebastien Bubeck, Microsoft’s VP of generative AI research, left to work for OpenAI, the company lost an AI expert and gained one. First reported by The Information, Reuters confirmed with Microsoft that the person was leaving.

We know Bubeck as one of the main writers of papers that talk about Microsoft’s Phi models. Microsoft’s Phi models are a collection of minuscule language and vision models designed to facilitate the operation of AI apps on edge devices.

In some markets, on-device models that work quickly, privately, and offline replace large, centralized models, like OpenAI’s GPT-4o. This kind of expertise is becoming more and more important.

Even though Bubeck’s new job at OpenAI is still a secret, it looks like he’ll be working on efficiency and small models, an area of AI where OpenAI isn’t as well known right now.