Microsoft suffers a loss as OpenAI gains a win as its former VP of research in generative AI, Sebastian Bubeck, left Microsoft. Information was the first to break the news, while Reuters also confirmed that this move by Microsoft is true.

We know him from papers describing Microsoft's Phi models, a series of extra-small language and vision models intended to help push AI applications to edge devices. That kind of expertise is increasingly important as large, centralized models like OpenAI's GPT-4o give way in some markets to on-device models that work quickly, privately, and offline.

Whatever Bubeck is doing at OpenAI, the mystery surrounding his new role there likely means that he will concentrate on efficiency and small-model approaches, an area where OpenAI is currently less powerful.