Microsoft has announced the continuation of its strategic partnership with OpenAI, in particular on the Stargate project, which aims to build $500 billion worth of AI data centers. At the same time, the company allowed ChatGPT to start using competitors' cloud services.
The main elements of cooperation between both parties remain unchanged. Microsoft retains the rights to use OpenAI's intellectual property in its products, such as Copilot. In addition, as part of the agreement, OpenAI will continue to exclusively use Azure for API services.
The financial relationship between the companies remains unchanged. Microsoft continues to be the main investor in OpenAI, providing funding and support for technology development, and thus benefits from the company's growing valuation. The revenue sharing agreement also remains in place, allowing both parties to benefit mutually.
As for the changes, they concern the requirement for OpenAI to use Microsoft cloud services exclusively. Now, ChatGPT developers can turn to competitors for additional resources. At the same time, Microsoft retains the Right of First Refusal (ROFR), which allows it to be the first among potential buyers of new OpenAI products.
OpenAI, in turn, will be able to strengthen its own capacity and resources, which will be mainly used for research and training of new large-scale language models.
At the end of the year, there were reports that relations between the two companies were becoming somewhat tense. In particular, it was said that one of the problems was exclusivity for computing power, which is now gone. It was also mentioned at the time that ChatGPT could withdraw from the agreement if the company invented general artificial intelligence (AGI).