Microsoft has confirmed that GenAI research expert Sebastien Bubeck has left the company to join OpenAI.

Reuter reported on October 14 that Microsoft confirmed that Vice President of General Artificial Intelligence (GenAI) research, Mr. Sebastien Bubeck, will leave the company to join OpenAI.

It's a major move in the tech space as Bubeck moves from the software giant to OpenAI, a Microsoft-backed company and creator of ChatGPT.

It is unclear what Mr Bubeck’s specific role will be at OpenAI, the Microsoft-backed AI startup. However, a Microsoft spokesperson said: “Sebastian has decided to leave Microsoft to continue his work on Artificial General Intelligence (AGI).”

Microsoft also expressed its desire to continue its partnership with Mr. Bubeck through his work at OpenAI. Reuters contacted Mr. Bubeck for confirmation but did not receive a response.

Mr. Bubeck’s departure follows a series of high-profile departures at OpenAI, including longtime CTO Mira Murati in September. CEO Sam Altman has denied any connection between the departures and the company’s restructuring plans.

Top GenAI researcher Sebastien Bubeck.

According to the Information, which first reported Bubeck's departure, most of his co-authors on a paper on Microsoft's Phi LLMs (smaller than traditional LLMs) are still working at Microsoft and plan to continue developing the models.

This high-level personnel shift could have a major impact on both Microsoft and OpenAI, as top researchers are playing a key role in the race to develop artificial intelligence, especially AGI – a goal considered the next big step in AI technology.