In today's rapidly advancing field of artificial intelligence, Mustafa Suleyman, head of AI at Microsoft, has recently recruited three top scientists from Google DeepMind to strengthen Microsoft's capabilities in AI. These new members will join Microsoft's new office in Zurich, Switzerland, contributing to the company's technological advancements.
Image Source Note: Image generated by AI, image licensed by Midjourney
According to reports, Suleyman announced this week that he successfully attracted former Google DeepMind scientists Marco Tagliasacchi, Zalán Borsos, and another research scientist Matthias Minderer to join the team. These two former employees were the main developers of the "Audio Overviews" tool, which can convert text into smooth podcasts. This feature was part of Google's AI research tool NotebookLM.
Tagliasacchi and Borsos were also involved in DeepMind's "Astra" project, which aimed at smarter machine learning, where the AI agents could answer user questions in real-time using video, audio, and text, and could autonomously complete tasks. Tagliasacchi stated on LinkedIn, "AI is still a transformative force, and audio plays a key role in shaping more natural, intuitive, and immersive interactions."
In addition to these two scientists, Suleyman has also brought in Minderer, a former DeepMind research scientist with a PhD from Harvard University. He stated on LinkedIn that he will focus on research related to visual capabilities, meaning he will work on enhancing machine learning's understanding of images and videos.
The Financial Times reported that sources close to the recruitment indicated that these researchers play a significant role in achieving Suleyman's goal of integrating AI agents into Microsoft Copilot. Suleyman mentioned on LinkedIn, "This is an outstanding team that will become an important hub for MAI, growing rapidly alongside our office in London."
Notably, this is not Suleyman's first time poaching talent from Google DeepMind. In December 2024, he also recruited former head of DeepMind's health division Dominic King and clinical research scientist Christopher Kelly to strengthen Microsoft's consumer AI health division.
Microsoft and Google have yet to respond to this news.
Key Highlights:
🌟 ** Suleyman successfully recruits three former Google DeepMind scientists to enhance Microsoft's AI team.**
🎙️ ** The new members developed the "Audio Overviews" tool that converts text into smooth podcasts, enhancing user experience.**
🧠 ** Minderer will focus on research into visual capabilities in machine learning, helping AI better understand images and videos.**