Microsoft AI boss promises development halt if tech poses existential risk

Microsoft consumer artificial intelligence chief Mustafa Suleyman says he will stop development outright if advanced AI ever threatens human safety.

Speaking on Bloomberg’s The Mishal Husain Show, Mustafa vowed that Microsoft’s focus is building super intelligence aligned with human interests, not chasing raw power at any cost.

“We won’t continue to develop a system that has the potential to run away from us,” Mustafa said during the interview. He added that this stance should not be controversial, calling it an obvious position, even though he believes it is still rare across the AI industry.

Microsoft regains freedom to build advanced AI systems

Mustafa joined Microsoft early last year after the company acquired the intellectual property and much of the team behind his startup, Inflection AI after abandoning OpenAI for consumer-facing AI tools.

After the acquisition, Mustafa was tasked with building products that could compete directly with the strongest models already on the market.

For much of that time, his work came with limits. Contractual terms tied to Microsoft’s partnership with OpenAI blocked the company from developing artificial general intelligence, defined as systems that can perform at human level, as well as superintelligence, which would surpass human abilities.

Mustafa said Microsoft gave up those rights in exchange for access to OpenAI’s latest models. That arrangement also involved Microsoft building and equipping data centers for OpenAI over several years.

That structure changed in October.A new deal reshaped the relationship and returned development rights to Microsoft.

Mustafa said OpenAI now has infrastructure agreements with other partners, including SoftBank and Oracle, to build more data centers than Microsoft was willing to commit. “They now have deals with SoftBank and many others – Oracle – to build more data centers than Microsoft wanted to build for them,” he said. “And so, in return, we then have the right to go develop our own AI.”

He said Microsoft has remained a general-purpose AI developer over the past 18 months but is now moving into work that could exceed human performance across tasks.

“We’ve still been a general-purpose AI development shop over the last 18 months, but now we can work on some techniques and methodologies that have the potential to exceed human performance at all tasks,” Mustafa said. “And so, it is a shift for us.”

Suleyman outlines cautious approach as tools remain unfinished

Last month, Mustafa had formally announced the superintelligence effort in a blog post that laid out Microsoft’s position that such systems must be designed to serve people. Other major players, including OpenAI and Anthropic PBC, often make similar claims about safety and human benefit.

“Everybody has to decide what they stand for and how they operate, and I don’t want to judge how they’re operating right now,” he said. “I don’t see any evidence of large-scale mass harm.”

Despite the long-term focus on superintelligence, Mustafa said the current debate remains academic.

Consumers expect assistants that can handle tasks like booking tickets or organizing shopping plans. Executives expect productivity gains. Neither group is fully there yet.

Mustafa pointed to Microsoft’s Copilot consumer assistant as proof.He said its agent-like features are still being tested and do not always perform as intended.

“We’re still experimenting with it,” said Mustafa. “But when it does work, it is the most magical thing you’ve ever seen.”

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