Microsoft announces a new AI office in London

Microsoft is setting up a new office in London for artificial intelligence (AI) research and development.

Mustafa Suleyman, the AI boss at the tech company, said that they will be posting jobs for “exceptional individuals” in the coming weeks and months.
He hasn’t said how many jobs will be made, though.

Microsoft is one of the biggest investors in ChatGPT, the company that made OpenAI. In 2023, OpenAI opened an office in London.

In a blog post, Mr. Suleyman said, “There is a huge pool of AI talent and expertise in the UK.”
“Microsoft AI plans to make a significant, long-term investment in the region as we begin hiring the best AI scientists and engineers for this new AI hub.”

Google purchased DeepMind, an AI research lab in the UK that Mr. Suleyman helped to start, in 2014.

In March 2022, when he joined Microsoft, he had his own AI company called Inflection AI.
Jordan Hoffmann, an AI engineer who has worked for DeepMind and Inflection, will be in charge of the new office.

“Microsoft AI London will drive pioneering work to advance state-of-the-art language models and their supporting infrastructure,” he said.
He also praised the UK’s “safety-first” approach to AI. This came a week after Michelle Donelan, the UK’s technology secretary, signed an agreement with the US to work together on testing advanced AI models.

That the new hub in London was a “vote of confidence in the UK’s status as a global leader in AI innovation” was what the minister for AI, Viscount Camrose.

“There is a thriving AI industry in the UK that employs over 50,000 people and brings in £3.7 billion for the economy,” he said.

“Thanks to our pro-innovation approach to AI, we continue to attract the top talent and businesses from across the globe.”

The new office in the UK will “collaborate closely” with OpenAI employees, according to Mr. Suleyman. The company has put a lot of money into OpenAI.

Microsoft had previously stated that it would be investing another $1bn (£790m) in OpenAI and forming a “multi-year, multi-billion” partnership at the beginning of 2023.

Since then, it has vowed to support Sam Altman, the CEO of OpenAI, particularly during the turmoil surrounding his firing and subsequent rehire in November.

Microsoft has become the most valuable public company in the world since then, with a market value of more than $3 trillion.

“The fact that Microsoft AI is opening a new hub in the middle of London is great news for the city’s growing tech scene,” said Russ Shaw, founder of the campaign group Tech London Advocates.
“One of the world’s biggest names in technology should see the news of its London office as a huge vote of confidence for the UK,” he said.

“AI is already helping people work faster and smarter, and the UK needs to stay at the forefront of AI research and development if it wants to keep its position as a world-leading tech ecosystem”.