Microsoft’s initial commitment to OpenAI—a decision that, in hindsight, appears almost self-evident—was, at the time, a bold venture fraught with uncertainty. According to CEO Satya Nadella, both he and Microsoft’s co-founder Bill Gates recognized the immense promise of artificial intelligence but also fully understood that such a leap carried considerable risk. Back in 2019, less than four years after OpenAI’s founding, Microsoft invested a remarkable $1 billion in the fledgling research organization. This contribution marked the beginning of what would become a multibillion-dollar partnership, with the company now having injected over $13 billion into the firm responsible for developing ChatGPT.
However, Nadella clarified in a recent appearance on the tech-oriented YouTube program “TPBN” that finalizing that first deal was anything but a straightforward process. The prospect of allocating such a vast sum required careful deliberation and, of course, formal approval from Microsoft’s board of directors. “Even at Microsoft,” Nadella remarked, “you still need to persuade a board to sanction the idea of allocating a billion dollars toward an unproven endeavor.” This challenge, though significant, proved manageable because the leadership shared a growing conviction that artificial intelligence represented not just an emerging trend, but a transformational field deserving serious exploration—even if that exploration involved substantial risk.
Reflecting on those early days, Nadella acknowledged that no one could have predicted the magnitude of the outcome. “In retrospect, who could have anticipated it?” he observed, admitting that the investment was not driven by expectations of astronomical financial returns. The intention was not to strike gold immediately, but rather to shape the future of technology in ways that were, at that time, largely speculative. He noted that Gates, despite his long-standing enthusiasm for technological progress, also hesitated. “Remember,” Nadella explained, “OpenAI was a nonprofit organization then. Bill even warned that we might as well consider that billion dollars as money spent without expectation of recovery.”
Still, both executives recognized that transformative innovation seldom occurs without an appetite for risk. “We had to maintain a high tolerance for potential loss,” Nadella continued, “and decided that it was worth giving this bold idea a chance.” That willingness to proceed in the face of uncertainty ultimately yielded one of the most consequential corporate partnerships in the history of artificial intelligence. Requests for comment from representatives of Nadella and Gates were not answered, as reported by Business Insider, but the results of their early resolve speak eloquently for themselves.
The story of OpenAI since that initial investment has been nothing short of extraordinary. Once a relatively small research entity devoted to exploring AI in a nonprofit framework, the organization catapulted into public consciousness in November 2022 with the release of ChatGPT’s early demo. What began as an experiment rapidly became a cultural phenomenon: within just five days, the chatbot reached one million users, fueled by viral sharing across social media platforms. This moment marked a turning point not only for OpenAI but also for the broader AI industry, signaling the dawn of conversational artificial intelligence as a daily tool accessible to millions.
OpenAI’s growth has continued at an astonishing pace. Its CEO, Sam Altman, revealed during the company’s annual DevDay conference on October 6 that the platform now engages over 800 million weekly users—a figure that underscores how deeply integrated ChatGPT has become in personal, educational, and professional contexts around the world. The company’s evolution has been matched by a significant organizational restructuring. As announced earlier this week, OpenAI has completed a formal realignment that places its nonprofit branch, the OpenAI Foundation, as the supervisory entity overseeing a newly formed public benefit corporation, OpenAI Group PBC. This restructuring establishes a clearer delineation between its mission of advancing beneficial AI research and its commercial operations.
Through this process, Microsoft’s position within the enterprise has solidified impressively. It now holds a 27 percent equity stake in OpenAI’s for-profit division, a share currently valued at approximately $135 billion. From the perspective of market performance, Microsoft’s own stock has soared nearly 29 percent since the beginning of the year, reflecting both investor confidence and the tangible success of the company’s early gamble on artificial intelligence. What once seemed a precarious experiment has matured into a cornerstone of Microsoft’s long-term innovation strategy—an enduring testament to the power of visionary decision-making in the technology sector.
Sourse: https://www.businessinsider.com/microsoft-satya-nadella-bill-gates-warn-invest-openai-billion-burn-2025-10
