OpenAI has announced the hiring of three senior computer vision and machine learning engineers from rival Google DeepMind, all set to work in a newly opened office in Zurich, Switzerland. Lucas Beyer, Alexander Kolesnikov, and Xiaohua Zhai will focus on multimodal AI, capable of performing tasks across various mediums such as images, audio, and video.
OpenAI has long been at the forefront of multimodal AI, with notable achievements including its text-to-image platform Dall-E released in 2021. Its flagship chatbot ChatGPT now features multimodal capabilities, complemented by an updated version of Dall-E available within ChatGPT.
The company’s expansion into new markets and research areas has led to recent departures from OpenAI, as top researchers have sought opportunities with rival companies or started their own ventures. Notably, Ilya Sutskever, a co-founder and former chief scientist, left for Safe Superintelligence, while Mira Murati is reportedly raising money for a new AI venture.
As competition in the AI research space intensifies, OpenAI has been actively poaching top talent, with high-profile hires including Mustafa Suleyman from Microsoft. The company’s efforts to expand globally are ongoing, with new offices planned in cities worldwide, alongside its existing presence in London, Tokyo, and other locations.
Source: https://www.wired.com/story/openai-hires-deepmind-zurich