Microsoft snatches yet another AI veteran from rival company, now hiring Meta's former VP

Microsoft has a history of hiring AI veterans from rival companies or even start-ups that it financially backs. Now, Jason Taylor, Meta’s former VP of Infrastructure for 13 years, has joined Microsoft to help develop its AI infrastructure.

Kevin Scott, chief technology officer at the Redmond company, shared on LinkedIn on Monday that Taylor’s new position will see him serving as a corporate vice president (CVP) and Deputy CTO (chief tech officer) “for our AI supercomputing efforts.

Scott acknowledges there’s been talk about their supercomputing plans, some of which is amusingly off-base. He confirms the project’s ambition and complexity, saying that the new CVP will work with OpenAI partners to “build the next set of systems that will push the frontier of AI forward for us all.”

The report came just as OpenAI and Microsoft, its number-one financial backer, are ready to splurge $100 billion for a “Stargate” AI supercomputer. But, there are still rumors saying that the master plan may not come true due to competition regulations.

A little while ago, the Redmond tech giant also launched a new organization called Microsoft AI and hired Inflection’s former boss Mustafa Suleyman to lead it. Microsoft said earlier this year that it’s paying $620 million to the AI company to use its models, and then another $30 million for legal rights “related to mass hiring.”