On Monday, Microsoft announced that it’s pouring billions into OpenAI to enhance AI research and democratize it as a technology platform. The partnership between Microsoft and OpenAI could give a ghoulish boost to projects such as viral AI chatbot ChatGPT, which rose to fame last year.

Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella said his company would continue investing in strategic areas for their future — including advances in Artificial Intelligence (AI).

Here's more from Microsoft's blog post about the partnership:

"We formed our partnership with OpenAI around a shared ambition to responsibly advance cutting-edge AI research and democratize AI as a new technology platform," said Satya Nadella, Chairman and CEO, Microsoft. "In this next phase of our partnership, developers and organizations across industries will have access to the best AI infrastructure, models, and toolchain with Azure to build and run their applications."

"The past three years of our partnership have been great," said Sam Altman, CEO of OpenAI. "Microsoft shares our values and we are excited to continue our independent research and work toward creating advanced AI that benefits everyone."

Microsoft's involvement with ChatGPT aims to implement the technology into products like Word and Outlook. The move came shortly after slashing 10,000 jobs as enormous lay-offs continue to wreak havoc on the job market.

Microsoft and OpenAI partnership is a massive leap towards advancing AI research, making it more accessible to businesses and individuals.