322: Did OpenAI and Microsoft Break Up? It’s Complicated…

Welcome to episode 322 of The Cloud Pod, where the forecast is always cloudy! We have BIG NEWS – Jonathan is back! He’s joined in the studio by Justin and Ryan to bring you all the latest in cloud and AI news, including ongoing drama in the Microsoft/OpenAI drama, saying goodbye to data transfer fees (in the EU), M4 Power, and more. Let’s get started!  

Titles we almost went with this week

• EU Later, Egress Fees: Google’s Brexit from Data Transfer Charges
• The Keys to the Cosmos: Azure Unlocks Customer Control
• Breaking Up is Hard to Do: Google Splits LLM Inference for Better Performance
• OpenAI and Microsoft: From Exclusive to It’s Complicated 
• Google’s New Model Has Trust Issues (And That’s a Good Thing)
• Mac to the Future: AWS Brings M4 Power to the Cloud
• Oracle’s Cloud Nine: Stock Soars on Half-Trillion Dollar Dreams
• ChatGPT: From Chat Bot to Hat Bot (Everyone’s Wearing Different Professional Hats)
• Five Billion Reasons to Love British AI
• NVMe Gonna Give You Up: AWS Delivers the Storage Metrics You’ve Been Missing
• Tea and AI: OpenAI Crosses the Pond
• The Norway Bug Strikes Back: A New YAML Hope

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AI Is Going Great – Or How ML Makes Money 

01:33 Microsoft and OpenAI make a deal: Reading between the lines of their secretive new agreement – GeekWire

• Microsoft and OpenAI have signed a non-binding memorandum of understanding that will restructure their partnership, with OpenAI’s nonprofit entity receiving an equity stake exceeding $100 billion in a new public benefit corporation where Microsoft will play a major role.
• The deal addresses the AGI clause that previously allowed OpenAI to unilaterally dissolve the partnership upon achieving artificial general intelligence, which had been a significant risk for Microsoft’s multi-billion-dollar investment.
• Both companies are diversifying their partnerships – Microsoft is now using Anthropic’s technology for some Office 365 AI features, while OpenAI has signed a $300 billion computing contract with Oracle over five years.
• Microsoft’s exclusivity on OpenAI cloud workloads has been replaced with a right of first refusal, enabling OpenAI to participate in the $500 billion Stargate AI project with Oracle and other partners.
• The restructuring allows OpenAI to raise capital for its mission while ensuring the nonprofit’s resources grow proportionally, with plans to use funds for community impact, includin