Microsoft plots new London artificial intelligence hub

MICROSOFT plans to open a new artificial intelligence (AI) hub in London, less than a year after the company’s president said his confidence in investing in the UK had been “severely shaken”.

The tech giant is setting up a new AI division at its office in Paddington as part of plans to invest £2.5bn in the UK. The division will be run by Google Deepmind co-founder Mustafa Suleyman, Microsoft’s newly hired AI tsar.

Mr Suleyman said: “There is an enormous pool of AI talent and expertise in the UK and Microsoft AI plans to make a significant, long-term investment.”

His remarks come less than a year since Brad Smith, Microsoft’s president, lashed out at Britain’s Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) over its threat to block its takeover of the gaming giant Activision.

At the time, Mr Smith said the decision was “bad for Britain” and that “people’s confidence in technology in the UK has been severely shaken”. He told the BBC at the time: “There’s a clear message here – the European Union is a more attractive place to start a business than the United Kingdom.”

The CMA later gave the $69bn (£54bn) deal the green light after it was restructured by Microsoft. Microsoft’s AI investment in the UK includes building a major new data centre in west London and installing 20,000 high-powered processors in the UK by 2026.

Mr Suleyman, who co-founded UK machine-learning business Deepmind before it was acquired by Google in 2014, said: “I’m excited to make this commitment to the UK on behalf of Microsoft AI ... I know, through my close work with thought leaders in the UK government, business community and academia, that the country is committed to advancing AI responsibly.”

Mr Suleyman left Deepmind in 2022, before founding his own AI business called Inflection. He was hired in March to lead Microsoft’s AI efforts.

Microsoft’s new UK lab will be led by Jordan Hoffmann, another ex-deepmind employee, who joins with Mr Suleyman from Inflection. He said the lab would “collaborate closely” with Openai, the developer of CHATGPT, into which Microsoft has invested billions.

Mr Suleyman’s decision to join Microsoft raised eyebrows in the technology sector. His new AI business had raised more than $1bn in venture funding before his sudden departure.

The Information website reported that Microsoft paid $30m for an agreement that Inflection would not sue over the poaching, as well as a further $620m to licence the start-up’s AI tools.