Microsoft will open a new hub in London to expand its capabilities in artificial intelligence (AI) technology in London, it has been announced.
The company said Microsoft AI London would help drive its work in advance “state-of-the-art language models” and in creating “world-class tooling for foundation models.”
Based in the firm’s Paddington offices, the new AI hub will be led by Jordan Hoffman, an AI scientist and engineer with experience at Inflection and Deepmind.
Microsoft said it would be “actively hiring” employees to work on the most “challenging AI questions of our time” in the coming weeks and months, although did not specificy how many jobs would be created.
In a blog post, Mustafa Suleyman, the co-founder of Deepmind and chief executive of Microsoft AI, said: “As a British citizen, born and raised in London, I’m proud to have co-founded and built a cutting-edge AI business here. I’m deeply aware of the extraordinary talent pool and AI ecosystem in the UK, and I’m excited to make this commitment to the UK on behalf of Microsoft AI.
“I know… that the country is committed to advancing AI responsibly and with a safety-first commitment to drive investment, innovation and economic growth. Our decision to open this hub in the UK reflects this ambition.”
It comes after Microsoft announced the creation of Microsoft AI, an organisation intended to help it develop consumer AI products and research, alongside partners such as OpenAI.
Big Tech firms such as Meta, Microsoft and Alphabet are racing to develop enhancements in AI capabilities, which they believe will pay off richly down the line.
Today’s announcement comes on the heels of multibillion investments in AI and cloud infrastructure by Microsoft, in Spain and Germany.
London is struggling to retain some of its biggest tech talent, with a number of firms plotting exits across the pond over the last year.
Microsoft recently announced a £2.5bn investment to upskill the UK workforce and improve infrastructure in preparation for the “AI era.”
Suleyman chose to base his new company InflectionAI in California, as opposed to the UK.