180 | ♟️🚨 Microsoft AI is born (with controversy)

In today’s Brainyacts:

1. Microsoft AI is born

2. A simple AI workflow guide

3. GPT-5 is coming soon and other AI model news

4. AI and woman lawyers - not a match? and other AI-related content

👋 to new subscribers!

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Lead Memo

♟️🚨 Microsoft AI is born (with controversy)

Intro to Microsoft AI

Microsoft is making big moves to ensure they stay at the forefront of AI innovation. They're bringing in two top AI experts, Mustafa Suleyman and Karén Simonyan, to lead a new division called Microsoft AI. Both come from Inflection AI, the maker of the Pi chatbot that I have featured here a few times. This team will mainly work on improving Copilot and other AI products for consumers.

Mustafa Suleyman, (co-founder of Inflection AI and original co-founder of DeepMind the brains behind Google’s AI), will be the new CEO of Microsoft AI and will lead all consumer AI products and research for Copilot, Bing, and Edge, reporting directly to Microsoft CEO, Satya Nadella.

Karén Simonyan, also from Inflection AI and Suleyman’s ‘friend and longtime collaborator’—will be Microsoft AI’s Chief Scientist.

The goal here is clear: Microsoft wants to push the boundaries of AI technology and make their products, like Copilot, even better. They're also continuing their close partnership with OpenAI, indicating they're serious about building a robust AI infrastructure, which includes developing their own advanced hardware and software to support AI models. They also want to dominate the consumer and enterprise AI market (see below).

To streamline its focus on AI, Microsoft is reorganizing its teams. This means that some of their existing AI projects, including Copilot, Bing, and Edge, will now fall under the new Microsoft AI umbrella.

What about Inflection AI?

Inflection AI raised $1.3B last year (led by Microsoft) to build the Pi chatbot, but has since struggled with its business model, which is why many people are saying is why Suleyman—and most Inflection AI staff—have left.

Inflection AI still has co-founder Reid Hoffman (co-founder and former CEO of LinkedIn) but he also sits on Microsoft’s board. There is a new CEO, Sean White. Interestingly, shortly after the Microsoft news was shared, Inflection announced it was changing its business model from being consumer-focused, to enterprise-focused:

How we got here (some controversy)

The details of this Microsoft-Inflection deal continue to shake out. And it is raising eyebrows. Social media lit up after the announcement and many people have been sleuthing to learn more about this deal.

We know that Microsoft is cutting a hefty $650 million check to Inflection AI, primarily through a licensing agreement to offer Inflection's AI models on Microsoft’s Azure services. While the arrangement allows Inflection's investors a reasonable return, the real prize for Microsoft is onboarding most of Inflection’s 70-strong team. By avoiding the "acquisition" label, Microsoft sidesteps potential talent retention hurdles while gaining valuable AI expertise to drive its cloud ambitions.

More on how they got here (a bit more controversy)

On page 9 of the Musk v OpenAI filing, it appears that Satya Nadella has been working to corner the AI market. During the OpenAI board fiasco that saw Sam Altman get temporarily fired recently, Satya wasn’t worried one bit about what would happen to Sam or OpenAI. Why?

Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella to board members: "If OpenAl disappeared tomorrow, we have all the IP rights and all the capability. We have the people, we have the compute, we have the data, we have everything. We are below them, above them, around them."

That is shrewd indeed. Satya is playing chess while everyone else is playing checkers.

Spotlight

🎓📌 Back to Basics

Some of you are pro users of chatbots while some of you are still beginners. Regardless, it is useful to remind yourself of best practices so that when you use your favorite AI tool you are productive and satisfied with the experience. Too many people are still using these things like a Google search - putting in too little information and acting like this is a transaction rather than a conversation.

When using conversational AI tools like ChatGPT, it's important to approach interactions as a collaborative process rather than expecting instant solutions. This guide will walk you through a simple structured workflow that enhances the AI's ability to assist effectively.

Workflow Steps:

1. Plan an Outline

   • Goal: Identify the main topics or questions you want to explore.

   • Example: If writing about renewable energy, outline key points like types of renewable energy, benefits, challenges, and future trends.

   • Example Prompt: "I want to write about renewable energy. Can you help me create an outline covering the introduction, types of renewable energy, benefits, challenges, and future trends?"

    

2. Decide on Web Searches

   • Goal: Determine if additional information is needed and what to search for. Make sure the AI tool you are using has a connection to the active internet.

   • Example: To supplement the renewable energy article, decide to search for the latest statistics on renewable energy usage and emerging technologies in this field.

   • Example Prompt: "What are the latest statistics on renewable energy usage and what are some emerging technologies in this field that we should include in our guide?"

3. Write a First Draft

   • Goal: Create a preliminary version of your document using the AI tool.

   • Example: Draft sections on different renewable energy sources, highlighting solar and wind power, and include known benefits and challenges.

   • Example Prompt: "Based on the outline and the latest statistics, can you draft a section on solar energy, highlighting its benefits and current technological trends?"

4. Review the Draft

   • Goal: Evaluate the draft for coherence, unsupported claims, or irrelevant details.

   • Example: Check if the arguments in the draft are well-supported with data and if any sections deviate from the topic of renewable energy.

   • Example Prompt: "Can you review the draft for any unsupported claims or off-topic information, especially in the wind energy section?"

    

5. Revise the Draft

   • Goal: Refine the document by addressing any weaknesses found during the review.

   • Example: If the draft lacks recent data on solar energy advancements, use the AI tool to find and integrate this information.

   • Example Prompt: "The wind energy section lacks recent advancements data. Can you update this section with the latest trends and market data?"

    

6. Repeat as Necessary

   • Goal: Continue refining the document through additional iterations, improving clarity and depth with each cycle.

   • Example: After integrating new data, review the document again to ensure it flows logically and presents a comprehensive view of renewable energy.

   • Example Prompt: "Let's go through the updated document again. Can you identify areas for further improvement or additional details needed in the renewable energy guide?"

AI Model Notables

Do you know what Elon Musk’s Neurolink is? You should as things are moving fast.

Here is their mission: Create a generalized brain interface to restore autonomy to those with unmet medical needs today and unlock human potential tomorrow.

► Elon Musk’s Neuralink live-streamed their first patient using a brain-chip implant to play online chess and other games by mind control alone, in a major milestone for the tech. 

• Elon also revealed that Neuralink’s next product will be ‘Blindsight’, working to restore vision of people who were born blind.

• Further, Elon said that Tesla’s Optimus could eventually be controlled as prosthetics via a Neuralink brain chip to replace human limbs.

► Amazon Web Services (AWS), Accenture, and Anthropic partner to accelerate enterprise AI adoption

► OpenAI’s GPT-5 is rumored to be released this summer as a few select people have already been using it

► OpenAI’s chatbot store is filling up with spam

► Microsoft debuts first Surface PCs with dedicated Copilot AI button

News You Can Use:

➭ Tennessee becomes first US state with law protecting musicians from AI

➭ AI can narrow justice gap, but women lawyers are slower to adopt it, Berkeley study shows

➭ AI-fueled scams target tax refunds

➭ The University of South Florida unveiled plans to create a college of artificial intelligence

➭ AI images and conspiracy theories are driving a push for media literacy education

➭ Michael Cohen, former attorney for Donald Trump, will not face sanctions after mistakenly submitting fake case citations generated by AI in a court filing.

➭ New research from the Alan Turing Institute suggests AI can take over 84% of Government Jobs

➭ Saudi Arabia Plans $40 Billion Push Into Artificial Intelligence

Who is the author, Josh Kubicki?

Some of you know me. Others do not. Here is a short intro. I am a lawyer, entrepreneur, and teacher. I have transformed legal practices and built multi-million dollar businesses. Not a theorist, I am an applied researcher and former Chief Strategy Officer, recognized by Fast Company and Bloomberg Law for my unique work. Through this newsletter, I offer you pragmatic insights into leveraging AI to inform and improve your daily life in legal services.