Microsoft has unveiled its plans to establish a new hub in London specifically for its consumer AI division. Jordan Hoffmann, an AI scientist and engineer, spearheads the team, having recently joined Microsoft from the renowned AI startup Inflection AI, where Microsoft made an investment last year.
Following Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella’s recent announcement, the founders of Inflection AI, including Mustafa Suleyman, co-founder of DeepMind, the AI company Google acquired in 2014, will lead the new consumer AI division.
Nadella mentioned that a number of members from the Inflection team joined Microsoft’s new AI unit, as reported by Bloomberg. Hoffmann, who had previously pursued a PhD and later became a research scientist at DeepMind in 2020, turned out to be one of these individuals. Following Suleyman’s establishment in 2022, Hoffmann transitioned to Inflection AI, where he began recruiting personnel from DeepMind and Meta.
Suleyman praises Hoffmann as an outstanding AI scientist and engineer in a recent blog post. Given Suleyman’s direct reporting to Nadella in the U.S., Hoffmann will assume leadership of the newly established London unit.
Suleyman mentioned plans to open new job postings in the near future to recruit AI experts for Microsoft’s Paddington office. The focus will be on developing language models, as well as the necessary infrastructure and tools.
Microsoft has recently announced its plan to invest £2.5 billion ($3.15 billion) in the U.K. over the next three years, in collaboration with the U.K. government. This investment will involve expanding its data center presence and providing training for over one million individuals in preparation for the AI economy.
The United Kingdom is one of the world’s top AI research and development investment destinations. In this regard, it ranks behind the United States and China. Additionally, the presence of Google’s DeepMind in the U.K. capital suggests that a significant talent competition may arise between these two frontrunners in the pursuit of AI supremacy.
Demis Hassabis, the co-founder and CEO of Google DeepMind, recently received a knighthood in recognition of his contributions to the field of artificial intelligence.
Eltrys contacted Microsoft to inquire about the size of its U.K. AI hub. However, the company declined to provide any additional details at this time.
