Microsoft launches new Microsoft AI organization, appoints DeepMind boss as leader

Microsoft is undergoing yet another leadership change. This time, the Redmond tech giant is launching a new organization called Microsoft AI, appointing DeepMind and Inflection co-founder Mustafa Suleyman to lead the team.

As the name suggests, this new organization will advance Microsoft’s AI products, most notably Copilot in Windows 11 and 10. Suleyman will then serve as EVP and CEO of Microsoft AI, while Karén Simonyan, another Inflection co-founder, will join as Chief Scientist. 

“Several members of the Inflection team have chosen to join Mustafa and Karén at Microsoft. They include some of the most accomplished AI engineers, researchers, and builders in the world,” Microsoft’s boss Satya Nadella said in today’s announcement.

Mikhail Parakhin, who previously oversees user experiences in Bing, Edge, and Copilot, will then report to Suleyman. Kevin Scott stays as CTO and EVP of AI, leading AI strategy and partnerships. Rajesh Jha remains EVP of Experiences & Devices, focusing on Copilot development for Microsoft 365 with Mustafa’s team.

“There are no other changes to the senior leadership team or other organizations,” Nadella reassures.

Last year, Microsoft faced a big loss when Panos Panay, who led Surface devices, left for Amazon. He reportedly left due to being “unhappy” with several internal changes within the organization.

This led to a shake-up, with Parakhin taking over the Windows and Web Experiences team, and Yusuf Mehdi leading Windows and Surface partnerships with retail partners.