By Stephen Nellis and Deborah Mary Sophia
(Reuters) -Microsoft said on Tuesday it has reached a deal with OpenAI to allow the ChatGPT maker to restructure itself into a public benefit corporation, following which Microsoft would hold a stake of about $135 billion – or 27% – in the AI startup.
Microsoft shares jumped 4% on the deal, which could clear the way for OpenAI to become publicly traded in the future.
Microsoft also said that it has secured a deal with OpenAI where the ChatGPT maker will purchase $250 billion of Azure cloud computing services. In exchange, Microsoft will no longer have a right of first refusal to provide computing services to OpenAI.
Microsoft’s earlier agreement with OpenAI gave it intellectual property rights to OpenAI’s products and models until 2030, or until OpenAI achieved artificial general intelligence (AGI). Microsoft said that its product and model rights now extend to 2032 and that those rights will continue until then even if a panel of independent experts verifies a declaration by OpenAI that it has achieved AGI.
(Reporting by Deborah Sophia in Bengaluru and Stephen Nellis in Washington; Editing by Devika Syamnath and Franklin Paul)
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