'Peacetime CEO': Microsoft resolves major dispute with OpenAI ahead of earnings (www.businessinsider.com)

Microsoft and OpenAI announced a new agreement that lifts long-standing fundraising and contracting restrictions tied to their 2019 pact, completing OpenAI’s transition of its for‑profit arm (OpenAI Group PBC) while the nonprofit remains the controller. The deal — struck a day before Microsoft’s quarterly earnings — keeps Microsoft’s ~27% stake and certain product/model rights through 2032, but removes limits that had constrained OpenAI’s ability to raise outside capital and secure large-scale cloud contracts. CEO Sam Altman won no new equity or salary changes under the restructure; OpenAI now says it can more freely pursue financing and build out a planned nationwide data‑center footprint to meet demand from roughly 800 million weekly ChatGPT users. For the AI/ML community this is significant because it clears a major bottleneck to scaling model training and deployment: faster, more flexible access to capital and compute. Freed from prior constraints, OpenAI can accelerate large‑scale model development, secure multi‑year compute deals, and compete more nimbly with hyperscalers and startups — while Microsoft retains strategic influence. The agreement also underscores ongoing tensions between commercialization, governance, and AGI timelines: the nonprofit still governs, Bret Taylor framed it as a “direct path to major resources before AGI arrives,” and Microsoft’s Satya Nadella called himself a “peacetime CEO,” signaling a shift from dispute to execution.