OpenAI in talks with Microsoft to reset its high-stakes partnership

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By Gabriela Mello

  OpenAI and Microsoft Corp. are revising the terms of their partnership that will enable the ChatGPT maker to go public at a future date while preserving the software giant’s access to artificial intelligence technology, the Financial Times reported Sunday. 

Microsoft is offering to give up some of its equity stake in OpenAI’s new for-profit business in exchange for accessing new AI models developed beyond 2030, when a key contract runs out, the newspaper cited people familiar with the negotiations as saying. 

A reset of the contract, drafted when Microsoft invested an initial $1 billion in OpenAI six years ago, is crucial to a restructuring of the startup in which Microsoft has poured billions more since, the FT said. It wasn’t clear whether the newspaper contacted OpenAI and Microsoft for comment on its reporting. 

OpenAI is backtracking on plans to convert from a nonprofit into a more conventional moneymaking enterprise after pressure from former employees, academics and rivals, including billionaire Elon Musk. 

Microsoft remains the biggest holdout as it seeks ensure that any changes to OpenAI’s structure adequately protect its $13.75 billion investment, people familiar with the matter told Bloomberg last week.