Microsoft has appointed relative newcomer Jacob Andreou to run its Copilot division and reduced DeepMind co-founder Mustafa Suleyman’s responsibilities in a major shake-up.
Microsoft’s chief executive, Satya Nadella, told employees on Tuesday that it is unifying AI assistant Copilot’s commercial and consumer offerings, spanning four “connected pillars”: Copilot, Copilot platform, Microsoft 365 apps, and AI models.
This team will be headed by Andreou, who joined from Snap Inc. – the technology company behind messaging app Snapchat – last year.
Suleyman, who has been chief executive of Microsoft AI since its creation in 2024, will step back from Copilot’s day-to-day commercial activities to focus entirely on developing AI models and “Superintelligence” over the next five years, he told colleagues.
In his memo, Suleyman also noted that the development of these models is key to delivering the “COGS efficiencies necessary to be able to serve AI workloads at the immense scale required in the coming years.” AI models, particularly chatbots, are currently very expensive to run; OpenAI’s costs are widely reported to scale in a near-linear fashion with its revenue.
The Microsoft AI leadership team is rounded out by Charles Lamanna, Perry Clarke, and Ryan Roslansky, who have previously headed other areas of Microsoft’s 365 and Copilot offerings.
Last month, Suleyman told the Financial Times that Microsoft was working to move away from its reliance on OpenAI for model development and achieve “true self-sufficiency”.
The leadership reshuffle comes against a backdrop of growing tension between Microsoft and OpenAI. The tech giant is reportedly weighing legal action over a $50 billion deal with Amazon that could breach its longstanding exclusive cloud partnership.
Currently, OpenAI’s models must be routed through Microsoft’s Azure cloud platform, generating substantial revenues for the company, but OpenAI is working to circumvent the contract in order to partner with Amazon Web Services for the provision of a new commercial product.
The Financial Times reported that a person familiar with Microsoft’s position said: “We know our contract […] We will sue them if they breach it. If Amazon and OpenAI want to take a bet on the creativity of their contractual lawyers, I would back us, not them.”
Whether the dispute goes to court or is resolved through mediation, it underscores the breakdown of what has been one of the closest partnerships in AI technology.
