Weekend Listen: The Man Driving Microsoft’s New AI Strategy

Mustafa Suleyman co-founded AI lab DeepMind when he was just 26 years old. Four years later, it was acquired by Google for a reported $400 million.

He is now head of Microsoft’s AI unit, where he just unveiled a new superintelligence team tasked with creating an AI that can outperform humans at all tasks.

In this conversation with Mishal Husain, Suleyman talks about the decisions society has to make about AI, the white-hot war over tech talent and the competition with other tech bros. 00:00 - Introduction from Mishal Husain 02:20 - Suleyman’s daily use of AI 04:52 - Stoicism and the magic of AI 05:50 - Defining superintelligence 07:35 - The AI Wild West 09:20 - Humans misusing technology 11:43 - Promise of abundance, universal basic income 14:30 - Suleyman’s family and decision to drop out of Oxford 19:37 - "Decisions we make may have very lasting consequences” 21:04 - Exploring the ‘broligarchy’ 22:28 - His view of Sam Altman and Open AI 24:11 - Conversations with Demis Hassabis about Gemini 3 26:15 - “I’m sort of a centrist these days” 28:09 - AI containment and the role of government 29:58 - Microsoft’s revised deal with OpenAI: “It is a shift for us” 31:42 -The talent war and ‘Zuck’s’ pay packages 34:12 - Circular deals in AI: “Watching it carefully” 36:22 - “I really want to nail medical superintelligence” 37:36 - Suleyman on using AI for emotional support 40:21 - The UK lacks the “hustle culture” of Silicon Valley 42:13 - AI news reporters: “We’re exploring everything” Watch this podcast here: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLe4PRejZgr0Ns_wjGlmjlPz0cded0nTYS You can find the written version of this interview with Mishal’s notes on Bloomberg Weekend: https://www.bloomberg.com/latest/weekend-interview Contact The Mishal Husain Show mishalshow@bloomberg.net Subscribe today on Apple Podcasts and Spotify.

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