Microsoft Hires AI2’s Ali Farhadi for Superintelligence Push

Microsoft has hired Ali Farhadi, the recently departed chief executive of the Allen Institute for Artificial Intelligence (AI2), as it accelerates efforts to build cutting-edge artificial intelligence systems internally.

Farhadi will report to Mustafa Suleyman, who joined Microsoft last year to lead a newly formed in-house AI unit. According to Business Insider, Farhadi has been given the title of ‘Corporate Vice-President’ as he is expected to shape the company’s technical direction.

The appointment comes weeks after Farhadi stepped down from AI2, where he championed open and accessible AI research. He also co-founded Xnor.ai, an edge AI startup acquired by Apple in 2020 for approximately $200 million.

At Microsoft, he will be joined by Sophie Lebrecht, who was the COO at AI2 and also worked as a machine learning manager at Apple. She was the SVP of Strategy and Operations at Xnor.ai.

Suleyman publicly confirmed the hires in a LinkedIn post. “With the rest of our team, they'll help pursue our mission of humanist superintelligence: safer, controllable, more capable AI systems in service of humanity and our toughest problems,” he posted.

Since joining Microsoft, Suleyman has been tasked with building a team focused on developing “frontier models of all scales” using the company’s own data and computing infrastructure. The broader ambition, he previously indicated, is to make Microsoft more self-sufficient in artificial intelligence at a time when reliance on external partners is under increasing scrutiny across the industry.

In a recent internal communication, Microsoft said Suleyman would focus on advancing its “superintelligence” agenda over the next five years, with a mandate to deliver world-class AI models.

Farhadi’s arrival adds further research depth to that push, as Microsoft seeks to compete more aggressively at the frontier of AI development.