米ＭＳ、オープンＡＩに追加投資 １．３兆円規模か、「チャットＧＰＴ」てこ入れへ

【ワシントンＡＦＰ＝時事】米マイクロソフトは２３日、人工知能（ＡＩ）を使用したチャットボット「チャットＧＰＴ」を開発した米新興企業オープンＡＩとの提携関係を延長し、複数年にわたり「数十億ドル」規模の新規投資を行うと発表した。追加投資額は１００億ドル（約１兆３０００億円）に達すると報じられている。（写真は米マイクロソフトのロゴ）
　チャットＧＰＴは昨年１１月に公開され、数秒間で小論文や記事、詩を執筆したり、コンピュータープログラムを書いたりできることから、大きな話題を呼んだ。悪用される恐れがあることから、首都ワシントンやニューヨークなどの教育機関は利用を禁止。企業などの事務職がいずれＡＩに置き換えられる可能性についても議論されている。
　マイクロソフトはオープンＡＩの技術を個人、法人向けいずれの製品にも活用する方針で、検索エンジン「ビング」や統合ソフト「オフィス」に搭載される可能性がある。
　同社は先週、近く従業員を１万人削減する一方、ＡＩなど優先分野への投資を強化すると発表したばかり。【翻訳編集ＡＦＰＢＢＮｅｗｓ】
〔ＡＦＰ＝時事〕（2023/01/24-13:27）

Microsoft on Monday said it had extended its partnership with OpenAI, the research lab and creator of ChatGPT, an artificial intelligence chatbot that has sparked widespread fears of cheating in schools and universities.
In a company blog post tweeted by CEO Satya Nadella, the tech giant announced a multiyear, multibillion dollar investment to accelerate AI breakthroughs that would be broadly shared with the world.
OpenAI's ChatGPT became an internet sensation when it was released without warning in November, allowing users to experiment with its ability to write essays, articles and poems as well as computer code in just seconds.
With teachers alarmed by its ability, ChatGPT is banned in universities and school districts - including in New York City and Washington DC - and has sparked nervous debates about the future of office work.
California-based OpenAI is also the creator of DALL-E, a program that can swiftly draw up digital images and illustrations at a simple request.
Media reports have put Microsoft's fresh investment in OpenAI at $10 billion, which would value the company at roughly $29 billion.
- 'Aggressive' -
The announcement comes less than a week after Microsoft said it would lay off 10,000 employees in the coming weeks and redeploy investment to new priorities such as AI.
Microsoft's statement said that the company would deploy OpenAI's models across our consumer and enterprise products.
This indicated that Microsoft intended to include the technology behind ChatGPT and DALL-E into its own software products such as Bing, the search engine or the company's Office apps.
With ChatGPT being one of the most innovative AI technologies seen in the industry, Microsoft is clearly being aggressive on this front and not going to be left behind on what could be a potential game changing AI investment, analyst Dan Ives of Wedbush Securities said in a note.
Founded in late 2015 with Tesla tycoon Elon Musk an early investor, OpenAI is led by Sam Altman, a 37-year-old entrepreneur and former president of startup incubator Y Combinator.
The company has counted on the financial support of prestigious contributors from the start, including LinkedIn co-founder Reid Hoffman, investor Peter Thiel and Musk.
The multi-billionaire served on OpenAI's board until 2018, but left to focus on Tesla, the electric vehicle company.
The startup also relies on a team of computer scientists and researchers led by Ilya Sutskever, a former Google executive who specializes in machine learning.
OpenAI had about 200 employees by 2021, according to a query made directly on ChatGPT.