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Microsoft employees barely had time to assimilate the announcement of their layoffs, when the technology giant announced a new million-dollar investment in the company that develops the famous and controversial chatbot ChatGPT.
It took a little more than 48 hours for Microsoft to go from headlines about the 10,000 layoffs it will carry out in the coming weeks, to an announcement about a “million-dollar and multi-year” investment.
According to the information available about the announcement, Microsoft would be betting on the OpenAI company and its technological developments focused on artificial intelligenceas a fundamental part for the future development of your business.
Until now, the exact figure with which Microsoft will fund this San Francisco-based company is not known; however, according to sources close to the operation, cited by The New York Times, the deal would be for $10 billion dollars.
It is not the first time that Microsoft trusts its resources in OpenAI, since previously had already invested $3 billion dollars in this company, which gives an idea of where the technology giant wants to take its business.
Microsoft prepares for a new stage
Microsoft’s move was announced amid a schism in the big tech industry that has come to be known as the “tech bubble” in the United States.
This after several industry giants, in addition to Microsoft, announced in recent weeks and days massive layoffs due to negative economic conditions and for substantial changes to their businesses post-pandemic.
Added to the list is Amazon, with cuts of 18,000 employees, Google, which cut 12,000 jobs, Meta, with 11,000 fewer jobs, and Spotify, with 600 employees who lost their jobs, among others.
However, in the midst of these news that shook the job market in the United States, Microsoft steps forward to announce the direction the company will take for the coming years.
The tech giant seeks to strengthen its presence in the artificial intelligence market to face other competitors in the sector that have also taken steps towards this sector, such as Google, Meta and Apple.
And ChatGPT seems like a correct bet, at least this has been demonstrated by this experimental chatbot that has already given a lot to talk about. for its capabilities as a text and image generatorsearch engine and content editor.
However, in recent weeks, ChatGPT has also raised criticism and fearsmainly in the academic sector, where the ability of this chatbot to generate content that would almost perfectly hide cases of plagiarism is questioned.
Microsoft is also preparing an expense of $1.2 billion dollars to pay severance pay and settlement agreements for the 10,000 employees who will lose their jobs.
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