Google DeepMind co-founder Mustafa Suleyman leaves his role at Inflection AI and joins Satya Nadella at Microsoft. (AFP)

Former Google DeepMind co-founder joins Microsoft to lead AI products such as Copilot and Bing

Adriana MaraisMarch 20, 24 Artificial Intelligence, Google, Microsoft, Satya Nadella

Microsoft has scored a major victory by appointing Google DeepMind co-founder Mustafa Suleyman as the new CEO of Microsoft AI. This move is expected to enhance the company’s AI capabilities and expand its reach in the field. Suleyman will oversee consumer AI products like Copilot, Bing, and Edge, as well as lead research efforts.

Google DeepMind founder joins Microsoft

In 2010, Mustafa Suleyman founded the artificial intelligence technology company DeepMind, which was later acquired by Google in 2014. He was involved in several projects until 2019, when he was promoted to vice president of AI policy and product management. Suleyman left Google in 2022 to found Inflection AI, a company specializing in machine learning and generative AI hardware, and has served as CEO ever since.

Announcing his move, Suleyman posted on X: “I’m excited to announce that I’m joining @Microsoft today as CEO of Microsoft AI. I’ll be leading all consumer AI products and research, including Copilot, Bing and Edge. From my friend and longtime collaborator Karén Simonyan will be the lead researcher and several of our amazing teammates have decided to join us. @InflectionAI.”

At Microsoft, Suleyman will be joined by Karen Simonyan, former chief scientist and co-founder of Inflection AI, and several other employees are also expected to join the Washington-based tech giant.

In a blog post, Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella announced: “Mustafa will be Microsoft’s President and CEO of Artificial Intelligence and will join the SLT group and report to me. Karén will join this group as a lead researcher reporting to Mustafa. I have known Mustafa for many years and greatly admire him as the founder of both DeepMind and Inflection and as a visionary, a product developer and a builder of pioneering teams that strive for bold tasks.

Nadella also announced that Kevin Scott will continue as Microsoft’s chief technology officer and head of artificial intelligence, while Rajesh Jha will also continue as head of experiences and devices. There have been no other changes in the company’s top management team, the CEO added.