Microsoft’s difficult relationship with OpenAI is about to take an fascinating flip. Because the pair proceed to renegotiate a contract to permit OpenAI to restructure right into a for-profit firm, OpenAI is getting ready to launch an open language AI mannequin that might drive much more of a wedge between the 2 firms.
Sources conversant in OpenAI’s plans inform me that CEO Sam Altman’s AI lab is readying an open-weight mannequin that can debut as quickly as subsequent week with suppliers different than simply OpenAI and Microsoft’s Azure servers. OpenAI’s fashions are sometimes closed-weight, which means the weights (a kind of coaching parameter) aren’t out there publicly.
The open nature of OpenAI’s upcoming language mannequin means firms and governments will have the ability to run the mannequin themselves, very similar to how Microsoft and different cloud suppliers rapidly onboarded DeepSeek’s R1 mannequin earlier this 12 months.
I perceive this new open language mannequin can be out there on Azure, Hugging Face, and different giant cloud suppliers. Sources describe the mannequin as “just like o3 mini,” full with the reasoning capabilities which have made OpenAI’s drama fashions so highly effective. OpenAI has been demoing this open mannequin to builders and researchers in current months, and it has been openly soliciting feedback from the broader AI neighborhood.
I reached out to OpenAI to touch upon the approaching arrival of its open mannequin, however the firm didn’t reply in time for publication.
It’s the primary time that OpenAI has launched an open-weight mannequin since its launch of GPT-2 in 2019, and it’s additionally the primary time we’ve seen an open language mannequin from OpenAI because it signed an exclusive cloud provider agreement with Microsoft in 2023. That deal means Microsoft has entry to most of OpenAI’s fashions, alongside unique rights to promote them on to companies by means of its personal Azure OpenAI companies. However with an open mannequin, there’s nothing to cease rival cloud operators from internet hosting a model of it.
As I revealed in Notepad last month, there’s an advanced revenue-sharing relationship between Microsoft and OpenAI that entails Microsoft receiving 20 p.c of the income that OpenAI earns for ChatGPT and the AI startup’s API platform. Microsoft additionally shares 20 p.c of its Azure OpenAI income instantly with OpenAI. This new open mannequin from OpenAI will possible have an effect on Microsoft’s personal AI enterprise. The open mannequin may imply some Azure clients gained’t want pricier choices, or they might even transfer to rival cloud suppliers.
Microsoft’s profitable exclusivity take care of OpenAI has already been examined in current months. Microsoft “developed” its OpenAI deal earlier this 12 months to permit the AI lab to get its own AI compute from rivals like Oracle. Whereas that was restricted to the servers used for constructing AI fashions, this new open mannequin will prolong far past the boundaries of ChatGPT and Azure OpenAI. Microsoft nonetheless has first proper of refusal to offer computing assets for OpenAI, however it has no management over an open language mannequin.
OpenAI is getting ready to announce the language mannequin as an “open mannequin,” however that terminology, which regularly will get confused with open-source, is sure to generate lots of debate round simply how open it’s. That can all come all the way down to what license is hooked up to it and whether or not OpenAI is prepared to offer full entry to the mannequin’s code and coaching particulars, which might then be absolutely replicated by different researchers.
Altman said in March that this open-weight language mannequin would arrive “within the coming months.” I perceive it’s now due subsequent week, however OpenAI’s launch dates typically change just like the wind, in response to growth challenges, server capability, rival AI bulletins, and even leaks. Nonetheless, I’d anticipate it to debut this month if all goes effectively.
- Microsoft is shedding as many as 9,000 staff. Lower than two months after shedding 6,000 staff, Microsoft announced further cuts that will impact as many as 9,000 employees. That’s 15,000 those that have misplaced their jobs at Microsoft in simply two months, taking the quantity near Microsoft’s biggest job cuts ever. The state of affairs will get much more grim while you have a look at the final couple years, the place Microsoft has had a number of rounds of layoffs and even performance-based cuts which have critically hit morale. Lots of the layoffs have appeared so random that they’ve unnerved staff, based on a number of Microsoft employees I’ve spoken to. The drama layoffs have impacted gross sales and advertising and marketing groups, and led to canceled Xbox games, a studio closure, and steep reductions at Microsoft’s Forza Motorsport developer. I fear that that is the brand new norm for Microsoft, because the layoffs don’t appear to be slowing down whereas the corporate continues to ramp up its AI investments. Please reach out to me anonymously on Signal if you understand extra particulars about the place Microsoft’s current layoffs have hit.
- Laid-off employees ought to use AI to handle their feelings, says Xbox producer. Xbox Recreation Studios government producer Matt Turnbull had some phrases of recommendation for his former colleagues final week: seek advice from AI chatbots. In a peculiar, now-deleted LinkedIn publish, Turnbull suggested the 9,000 affected staff to make use of ChatGPT or Copilot “to assist scale back the emotional and cognitive load that comes with job loss” and assist with profession planning or updating a resume. Whereas I’m positive Turnbull had good intentions along with his publish, artistic industries like gaming are grappling with the potential affect of AI and other people actually don’t wish to be reminded of AI chatbots once they’ve simply misplaced their jobs.
- Microsoft Groups now has threaded conversations. Microsoft is lastly rolling out threads in Teams channels. Groups customers will have the ability to both create posts or threads in a single channel, however, confusingly, it looks like Groups channel homeowners must choose a format of both posts or threads, relying on how a channel is used. Whereas Microsoft has mixed the chats and channels expertise in Groups, I nonetheless hear from common customers that most individuals simply use group DMs as an alternative of channels. I want Microsoft would make the chat expertise of Groups extra like Slack, the place DMs are reserved for principally 1:1 or very small group discussions, and channels are the go-to for initiatives and bigger conversations.
- Microsoft and OpenAI are coaching lecturers. Microsoft, OpenAI, and Anthropic have funded a $23 million training hub that can prepare lecturers the best way to use AI instruments. It’s a part of a “Nationwide Academy for AI Instruction,” which can present free entry and coaching to the almost 2 million members of the American Federation of Lecturers.
- Microsoft’s Copilot Plus options may arrive on desktop PCs later this 12 months. I’ve been ready to see when Home windows 11’s new AI options would seem on true desktop PCs, and it seems to be like that’s about to begin later this 12 months. Intel is reportedly planning a refresh of its Arrow Lake CPUs within the second half of 2025, and the large change can be a extra superior NPU that must be able to Copilot Plus options. I haven’t been vastly impressed with the Home windows AI options but, other than the AI-powered search improvements that make it lots simpler to seek out information and paperwork on a Copilot Plus PC.
- Microsoft’s Edge browser now masses websites even sooner. Microsoft says it has “reached a serious milestone” for its Edge browser UI pace. It now takes Edge less than 300 milliseconds to begin rendering the primary elements of a web site, which means websites load even sooner. I’ve at all times been a fan of Microsoft’s Edge browser, however it’s nonetheless struggling to compete with Chrome’s dominant market share, regardless of all of the annoying tricks that Microsoft employs to get folks to make use of Edge.
- Home windows 11 has lastly overtaken Home windows 10 as essentially the most used desktop OS. It’s been almost 4 years since Home windows 11 first debuted, and it has lastly crossed an essential milestone. Stat Counter now lists Windows 11 as the most-used version of the operating system, with 52 p.c of the market in comparison with round 44 p.c for Home windows 10. The adoption of Home windows 11 has been gradual in comparison with Home windows 10, which might be due to Microsoft’s stricter {hardware} necessities. Now that the Home windows 10 finish of help date is nearing (October 14th), companies are racing to get upgraded in time.
- Microsoft Authenticator is ending help for passwords. When you use the Authenticator app to retailer or autofill passwords, Microsoft is starting to remove this functionality this month. You’ll have to make use of Microsoft Edge or one other password administration resolution as an alternative, as Authenticator goes again to primary multifactor authentication as an alternative. Microsoft added help for password storage in Authenticator in 2020, and passwords will now not be accessible within the app in August.
- Microsoft is testing tighter integration with 1Password’s passkeys in Home windows. 1Password is a superb various for those who depend on password storage in Authenticator, and it’s getting even higher help inside Home windows 11. Microsoft is now testing 1Password passkey integration in Windows 11, permitting apps utilizing passkeys and the OS to combine neatly into the password supervisor identical to iOS or Android.
- Microsoft’s Xbox PC launcher will get going with Steam, Epic, and different video games exhibiting up. The brand new aggregated gaming library within the Xbox PC app debuted late final month for testers, and it means Steam, Battle.internet, Ubisoft, Epic Video games, and Riot Video games titles are all now appearing in the Xbox app. You should utilize this app to launch these video games simply as you’d from their native launcher, very similar to GOG Galaxy. It’s all a part of an early check for the broader Home windows handheld enhancements which can be arriving later this 12 months.
- The Xbox 360 dashboard simply received up to date… to promote newer Xboxes. Microsoft mounted a problem with field artwork on the Xbox 360 late final month, however it additionally added some sizable ads for its latest Xbox Series S / X consoles on the primary web page of the Xbox 360 dashboard. Clicking the adverts does nothing, and also you’ll want to make use of a smartphone or pill to scan the QR code that takes you to a URL to improve to the drama Xbox fashions.
- Activision pulls Name of Obligation recreation after PC gamers are hacked. A number of PC gamers leaping again into the 2017 shooter Name of Obligation: WWII have reported that their PCs have been compromised by hackers after playing the game. Activision eliminated the Microsoft Retailer model of the sport on Friday, which was reportedly an previous model that had a distant code execution flaw that has since been patched. This must be a large wake-up name to Microsoft over the state of the Recreation Cross variations of PC video games. It’s a daily incidence that video games within the Microsoft Retailer are older variations or have lacking options, and that might have a devastating impact on some customers.
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