DeepMind co-founder joins Microsoft to lead Copilot development under new 'Microsoft AI' org
What you need to know
Microsoft has announced an internal reorg to better position the company for an AI future.
It's forming a new "Microsoft AI" organization, lead by DeepMind and Inflection co-founder Mustafa Suleyma.
The reorg moves Bing, Edge, Copilot and potentially Windows under this new Microsoft AI org.
Microsoft is firmly an AI company now, as it moves to shape itself around an AI future. Today, the tech giant announced an internal reorg, with products like Bing, Edge, and Copilot moving under a new "Microsoft AI" division lead by DeepMind and Inflection co-founder Mustafa Suleyman.
Mustafa Suleyman will take the role as Executive Vice President and CEO of Microsoft AI, and will be part of Microsoft's senior leadership team reporting directly to Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella. This new Microsoft AI organization will focus on advancing Copilot and other consumer AI products and research.
As part of the reorg, Mikhail Parakhin and his team, which consists of products such as Bing, Edge, and Copilot, will be moved under Microsoft AI, reporting directly to Suleyman. Previously, Parakhin was reporting to Rajesh Jha, who remains as Executive Vice President of Experiences & Devices at Microsoft.
Curiously, Microsoft fails to mention where Windows is going under this new reorg. When ex-Windows boss Panos Panay departed last year, Windows was placed under Mikhail Parakhin, but Microsoft's press release about today's reorg fails to mention Windows as moving with him under the Microsoft AI org.
Does this mean Windows remains under Rajesh Jha and the Experiences and Devices org? If so, who is now in charge of Windows? If Windows did move with Mikhail, then that means Windows is now sitting under Microsoft's AI organization internally at the company, which is a big deal.
Regardless of where Windows now resides internally, it's clear that Microsoft is now viewing itself as an AI company first and foremost. Microsoft is all-in on AI experiences and Microsoft Copilot, and you can bet it's going to build all future products around this technology.
