Microsoft is on track to bolster its AI division by hiring prominent researchers from the Allen Institute for AI and the University of Washington. This recruitment includes former Ai2 CEO Ali Farhadi, alongside Hanna Hajishirzi and Ranjay Krishna, who will join Mustafa Suleyman's Superintelligence team while maintaining their academic roles.
The announcement of these hires follows Farhadi's exit from Ai2, which he led for over two years until March 12. The move is strategically aligned with Microsoft’s aim to lessen reliance on OpenAI for advanced AI models amidst growing competition from companies like Amazon and Google.
Hajishirzi is notable for her involvement in a $152 million initiative, supported by the National Science Foundation and Nvidia, aimed at developing open AI models for scientific research. Meanwhile, Krishna has made significant contributions to Ai2's multimodal projects and presented at Nvidia's recent GTC conference.
These additions reinforce Microsoft’s commitment to advancing its AI capabilities, building on an already impressive roster of talent from leading tech firms including Google DeepMind and Meta.