OpenAI’s partnership with Microsoft showing signs of strain

OpenAI’s relationship with Microsoft, which Sam Altman called it “the best bromance in tech,” is showing signs of strain. This started after Altman's brief ouster by OpenAI's board last November, an incident that shocked and concerned Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella.

Microsoft had already invested $13 billion into OpenAI, and Nadella was initially willing to keep the cash spigot flowing. But after OpenAI’s board of directors briefly ousted Altman last November, Microsoft has reportedly been hesitant in supplying OpenAI with the cash and computing power it needs as it expects to lose $5 billion this year.

Over the next few months, OpenAI expects to lose $5 billion this year, continuing to ask for more money and more computing power to build and run its AI systems. Financial pressure on OpenAI, concern about its stability and disagreements between employees of the two companies have strained their five-year partnership.

“We’re deeply grateful for our partnership with Microsoft; the early big bet they took on us and the vast compute resources they’ve provided have been essential to our research breakthroughs, benefiting both companies greatly,” Altman said in a statement. “We are excited and committed to pursuing our shared vision and achieving even greater things together far into the future.”