Microsoft Invests $1 Billion in OpenAI

According to Michael Kan writing in PCMag, Microsoft's most recent goal is to build an AI that will be capable of running society and solving our most pressing problems. Last Monday, the company said it wants to lay the foundation for its creation by investing $1 billion into OpenAI, a San Francisco-based company co-founded by Elon Musk.

The idea is to create an artificial general intelligence (AGI). Currently, the most cutting-edge AI programs have been designed to focus only on a single task. AGI is far more ambitious: Imagine a computer smart enough to master one field, and then another, and another, and then using that knowledge for the betterment of society. "The creation of AGI will be the most important technological development in human history, with the potential to shape the trajectory of humanity," OpenAI CEO Sam Altman said in today's announcement. "Our mission is to ensure that AGI technology benefits all of humanity."

Whether or not creating an AGI is even possible remains debatable. Meanwhile, others may panic at the thought of an AI with the intellect to match and exceed ours. OpenAI points out the breakthrough’s researchers have made in last decade in getting AI algorithms to recognize images, translate languages, and control robots. One of OpenAI's current projects can write fiction like a human.

However, creating new AI-based technologies costs a lot of money. Not only does it require lots of programming, but also access to thousands of servers. So OpenAI has been seeking massive funding. "The most obvious way to cover costs is to build a product, but that would mean changing our focus. Instead, we intend to license some of our pre-AGI technologies, with Microsoft becoming our preferred partner for commercializing them," Altman wrote in a separate blog post.

Interesting stuff. Applying advanced technology to help solve the world’s problems would be potentially “the big payoff” we have long been waiting for. But many questions remain. For example, who will be in control? I’m old enough to remember my Dad taking me to see a movie in the Summer of 1991 about a computer system designed to do something similar. Although this one was aimed more at national defense. It’s name: “Skynet.”


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