Bill Gates may not be officially involved with the business side of Microsoft (MSFT) anymore, but the company's co-founder is still scoring wins for the tech giant.
Gates is in the midst of a trip to China where he has met with President Xi Jinping and discussed everything from global pandemics to the future of artificial intelligence in the country.
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Neither Gates nor Chinese state media reported on the AI conversation between the two despite publicizing other parts of their interaction, but sources told Reuters what had been discussed off the record.
Xi Jinping and Gates discussed the rise of artificial intelligence around the world and the President said he welcomed U.S. companies, including Microsoft, to bring their AI tech to China, Reuters reported.
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Gates stepped down from Microsoft's board of directors in 2020, but it seems he is still acting on behalf of his former company in a non-official capacity.
Microsoft already has a good relationship with China as the company's Bing search engine is the only foreign one accessible in the country, though its search results are censored.
In January, Microsoft announced that it was expanding its investment in OpenAI and ChatGPT to the tune of billions.
“It’s a new day in search," CEO Satya Nadella said at an event at the time.
“The race starts today, and we’re going to move and move fast. Most importantly, we want to have a lot of fun innovating again in search, because it’s high time.”
Semafor reported that Microsoft will invest $10 billion in OpenAI in a deal that values the San Francisco-based group at around $29 billion. Microsoft would recoup cash from OpenAI's profits under terms of the deal, Semafor reported, and then ultimately own a 49% stake in the group.
