Microsoft was the exclusive supplier of data center infrastructure for OpenAI to train and run its artificial intelligence models. Not anymore. While announcing Stargate and OpenAI's new large-scale artificial intelligence infrastructure agreements with SoftBank, Oracle and other companies, Microsoft said it had signed a new agreement with OpenAI, giving it "right of first refusal" for new OpenAI cloud computing capacity.
This means that going forward, Microsoft will get first dibs on whether to host OpenAI's artificial intelligence workloads in the cloud, but if Microsoft can't meet its needs, OpenAI can choose a competing cloud provider.
"OpenAI recently made a new large-scale Azure commitment that will continue to support all OpenAI products as well as training," Microsoft said in a blog post. "To further support OpenAI, Microsoft has approved OpenAI to build additional capabilities, mainly for model research and training."
Computing power has reportedly become a source of tension between the artificial intelligence company and its close collaborator and major investor Microsoft. In June this year, Microsoft bowed to pressure from shareholders and allowed OpenAI to sign an agreement with Oracle to gain additional production capacity.
In the blog post, Microsoft reiterated the "key elements" of its long-term partnership with OpenAI, including rights to use OpenAI's intellectual property, revenue sharing arrangements, and exclusive use of the OpenAI API, which will remain unchanged until 2030.
Of course, the premise is that before this, OpenAI has not implemented artificial general intelligence (AGI) according to the definition of the two companies. According to reports, according to the agreement reached by the two companies, when OpenAI develops an artificial intelligence system that can create at least US$100 billion in profits, Microsoft will lose the right to use the company's technology.
OpenAI is said to be considering canceling the agreement in order to secure more Microsoft funding.
The blog post reads: "OpenAI API is exclusive to Azure and can run on Azure and be used through the Azure OpenAI service. This agreement means customers can access leading models on Microsoft platforms and directly benefit from OpenAI."