TLDR: Microsoft AI CEO Mustafa Suleyman revealed that Google was close to launching its advanced conversational AI, LaMDA, before OpenAI’s ChatGPT. However, internal skepticism, fears of disrupting its search business, and safety concerns led Google to halt the project, a decision that significantly altered the trajectory of the generative AI boom and allowed ChatGPT to dominate the market.
Microsoft AI CEO Mustafa Suleyman recently disclosed a pivotal moment in the history of generative AI, claiming that Google was on the cusp of releasing its own groundbreaking chatbot, LaMDA, well before OpenAI’s ChatGPT captured global attention. Speaking on the CatGPT podcast, Suleyman, who previously worked at Google, described LaMDA as ‘genuinely ChatGPT before ChatGPT,’ highlighting its impressive conversational capabilities and status as the ‘first properly conversational LLM.’
According to Suleyman, despite the advanced state of LaMDA and the enthusiasm of many within Google who recognized its transformative potential, the project faced significant internal resistance. The primary obstacles cited were a combination of harsh skepticism from some quarters, concerns about how a conversational AI might disrupt Google’s dominant search business, and paramount worries regarding AI safety. These factors collectively led to the shelving of LaMDA, much to the frustration of the development team.
Suleyman’s disappointment with Google’s decision ultimately led to his departure. He went on to co-found Inflection AI, where he successfully raised a substantial $1.5 billion in funding. This capital was used to build a formidable AI infrastructure, including a 22,000 H100 GPU cluster, to develop their own AI, named Pi (Personal Intelligence). Pi was specifically optimized for personality, emotional intelligence, and companionship.
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Inflection AI launched Pi in January 2023. However, OpenAI’s ChatGPT had already been introduced to the market in November of the previous year (2022). Suleyman believes that if Google had proceeded with LaMDA, or if Pi had launched earlier, the landscape of conversational AI could have been dramatically different, with either LaMDA or Pi potentially becoming the defining AI of its time instead of ChatGPT. The rapid and widespread adoption of ChatGPT following its launch underscored the critical role of timing and organizational mindset in the competitive and fast-evolving AI industry.
