Microsoft Recruits 24 AI Experts from Google to Enhance Copilot

Alright, so here’s the thing—AI is kind of the rockstar in tech right now, right? Everyone’s fighting to be the lead guitarist in the band. So, Meta’s out there, strumming its guitar with this Meta Superintelligence Labs thing, trying to get on stage with Google and OpenAI.

Why? Well, apparently talent’s the secret sauce here. I mean, it makes sense. You need the right kind of brains to make the fancy AI magic happen. Meta’s been on a bit of a shopping spree, grabbing OpenAI folks with these jaw-dropping signing bonuses. Like, we’re talking $100 million! Seriously, imagine the things you could buy with that—like, a yacht or an island or something.

And if that’s not enough, they snapped up Scale AI too, and brought CEO Alexandr Wang into the fold. It’s like they’re collecting Pokemon or something, except the stakes are way higher. Meanwhile, OpenAI’s trying to keep its calm, sending their people on vacays and shaking up paychecks. Sounds a bit like prepping for a showdown, doesn’t it?

Then there’s Microsoft following suit, almost like a copycat cousin, snagging folks from Google’s DeepMind lab. They poached about 24 people—like they’re assembling an Avengers team or something. Amar Subramanya jumped ship to Microsoft, all pumped up about their ego-free culture. “Fast-moving and collaborative,” he says, which feels like startup lingo, right?

Oh! And Adam Sadovsky made the leap too, leaving a near two-decade gig at Google. There’s this interesting undercurrent—like Microsoft’s trying to assemble this dream team while Google’s attempting to keep everything under lock and key. You know, noncompetes and long PTOs—corporate stuff, makes my head spin.

So, about Copilot—which, honestly, sounds a bit like trying to reinvent the wheel—Microsoft’s not quite hitting the high notes they aimed for. It’s like they dropped a new album but the fans just aren’t buying it. Apparently, it’s all about the prompts or something. They even set up this Academy to school people on how to use it right. Wild, huh?

The news lately says Microsoft’s relationship status with OpenAI is… complicated. There are billion-dollar partnerships and talks of transforming OpenAI into a for-profit gig. Makes your head spin, right? Microsoft’s talking about letting it slide until 2030, but who really knows? There’s even some drama about OpenAI possibly ditching them altogether—like a soap opera, except with AI and billions on the line.

And yet, Copilot doesn’t really have the glam factor that ChatGPT seems to be soaking in. Bigger brains at Microsoft think it feels a bit gimmicky, and even Jeff Taper, over at Microsoft Teams, is comparing it to ChatGPT—like they’re practically twins. But the allure? Still with ChatGPT. Maybe it’s just more fun, who knows?

So, there you have it. AI landscape’s kind of a wild west show right now, and everyone’s just trying not to get left in the dust.