Technology giant %Microsoft () is reportedly in talks to invest as much as $10 billion U.S. in %OpenAI , the company behind the %ChatGPT artificial intelligence bot.
The potential investment from Microsoft values San Francisco-based OpenAI at $29 billion U.S. Media reports say talks are ongoing and that no deal has yet been reached.
OpenAI was founded by %Tesla () chief executive officer (CEO) Elon Musk and investor Sam Altman. It made the ChatGPT chatbot available for free public testing on November 30 of last year.
A chatbot is a software application designed to mimic human conversations based on user prompts. ChatGPT is fast becoming a global phenomenon as people use it for everything from writing books to designing video games.
Terms of the deal being discussed with Microsoft would see the Seattle-based company receive 75% of OpenAI's profits until it recovers its initial investment.
Should the funding deal close, Microsoft would hold a 49% stake in OpenAI, with other investors taking the other 49% and OpenAI's non-profit parent company having a 2% stake.
Microsoft, which invested $1 billion U.S. in OpenAI back in 2019, is planning to launch a version of its Bing search engine using the same artificial intelligence technology that powers ChatGPT, according to multiple media reports.
Microsoft’s stock is down 28% over the last year and trading at $227.12 U.S. per share.