On the 25th (local time), The Wall Street Journal (WSJ) reported that OpenAI, the developer of ChatGPT, and Microsoft (MS) are in conflict over artificial general intelligence (AGI). MS is OpenAI's largest investor, holding a 49% equity stake after investing more than $13 billion (approximately 18 trillion won) since 2019.
The two companies are currently negotiating to readjust the terms of their partnership agreement made in 2019, which specifies that OpenAI could limit MS's access to related technologies if it reaches AGI. WSJ reported that MS is strongly opposing the deletion of this clause.
AGI refers to AI at a level comparable to humans. Sam Altman, the CEO of OpenAI, predicts that reaching AGI could be possible within a few years, while Satya Nadella, CEO of MS, is known to be skeptical about this.
In fact, CEO Nadella stated in a podcast, "There is no reality to the arbitrary standard of AGI," and proposed a practical standard that global economic growth would need to increase by at least 10% annually to claim that AGI has been realized.
From MS's perspective, if the current contract stands, they would have invested massive amounts of capital in OpenAI and integrated OpenAI technologies extensively into their products, yet would not be able to utilize AGI, which is the most critical technology.
However, OpenAI has expressed dissatisfaction, alleging that MS, which is in a competitive relationship over some AI technologies, excessively controls its AI products, computing resources, and intellectual property (IP). Currently, Microsoft has restricted OpenAI to sell its AI products only through the Azure platform.
Currently, OpenAI is seeking to transition into a for-profit corporation and wants to obtain approval from MS. By becoming a for-profit corporation, OpenAI would be able to attract several billion dollars in new investments without interference from MS.
According to the tech media outlet The Information, OpenAI is demanding to modify contractual terms to lower the revenue-sharing rate with MS and secure independent sales rights for high-value products. In contrast, MS hopes to extend its exclusive use rights to technologies beyond 2030 and completely eliminate the AGI clause. WSJ reported that in recent negotiations, MS proposed securing about 35% equity in the new for-profit corporation in exchange for approving OpenAI's transition.
OpenAI is said to have internally discussed ways to declare AGI by launching 'AI coding agents' that surpass the skills of human developers. However, if this occurs, MS is likely to file a lawsuit, arguing that the standard for AGI is ambiguous, which could lead to a protracted legal dispute between the two companies.