Microsoft confirms its VP of GenAI research Sebastien Bubeck is joining OpenAI

Microsoft on Monday said that its vice president of GenAI research, Sebastien Bubeck, is leaving the company to join ChatGPT-maker OpenAI.

It was unclear what role Bubeck would assume at the Microsoft-backed AI startup.

"Sebastian has decided to leave Microsoft to further his work toward developing AGI," a spokesperson for Microsoft said, adding that the company looks forward to continuing their relationship through Bubeck's work with OpenAI.

Bubeck did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for confirmation.

Most of Bubeck's coauthors who worked on a research paper on Microsoft's Phi LLMs, which are smaller than traditional large language models (LLMs), remain at Microsoft and plan to continue developing the models, according to the Information, which first reported his departure.

The development follows a series of departures from OpenAI, including that of longtime chief technology officer Mira Murati in September.

CEO Sam Altman has denied any link between the departures and a planned restructuring of the company.