Mustafa Suleyman is one of the most important people in the world of AI, driving its revolution. From finding Google DeepMind and Inflection AI to becoming the CEO of Microsoft AI, Suleyman is the AI leader who has a lot of skin in how our future will look like. 

Recently, Microsoft AI acq-hired and partnered with Mustafa Suleyman’s Inflection AI for an estimated $1B and above. In this article, we will be discussing Mustafa’s entrepreneurial journey and take a look into how a British-born Oxford dropout revolutionized and disrupted the world of technology.  

Early Days: Mustafa’s Unconventional Non-Tech Beginnings

Born in 1984 in London, Mustafa Suleyman had a childhood and upbringing unlike other technology CEOs and founders. Rather, his journey started with humanities and arts subjects instead of tech. 

His father, an immigrant from Syria, communicated in fragmented English and made his living as a taxi driver. On the other hand, his mother hailed from England and pursued a career in nursing.

Mustafa first exhibited his entrepreneurial tendencies when he started purchasing sweets in bulk to resell them at a higher price to his schoolmates. However, this lucrative endeavor didn't fully appease his desire to give back to society. 

Choosing a project with a societal impact for his subsequent venture, he embarked on an accessibility audit of London’s sightseeing spots and public areas using a borrowed wheelchair. 

The findings were presented in a comprehensive 80-page tourist guide, showcasing the city's access friendliness for physically challenged individuals.

He decided to leave his studies in Philosophy at Oxford University, choosing instead to pave his own route in the nascent field of artificial intelligence (AI). He contends that it laid the bedrock for analytical thinking, greatly influencing his future endeavors. 

However, he seemingly absorbed these key concepts swiftly as he left Oxford at the young age of 19 to launch the Muslim Youth Helpline with his companion, Mohammed Mamdani. This telephone counseling initiative later expanded to become one of the distinguished mental health support services in the UK.

Post accomplishment in this sphere, the adaptable Suleyman promptly shifted gears, serving as a human rights policy advisor to the London Mayor. Subsequently, he leveraged this experience to establish his consultancy company, Reos Partners, which is dedicated to addressing societal challenges by applying principles drawn from conflict resolution methods. 

In this role, he consulted for a wide spectrum of organizations, from the United Nations to the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF). It was during this tenure he came across the burgeoning technology that would architect his future path.

Getting Inspired by the Silicon Valley & Finding DeepMind

In 2009, Mustafa found himself at the United Nations Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen, engaged in discussions with world leaders about reducing emission commitments. 

The unsuccessful conclusion of these talks prompted him to reassess the effectiveness of the campaigning endeavors he and his colleagues were undertaking. Simultaneously, he watched the ascent of social media giants like Facebook, in awe of their proficiency in rallying scores of individuals around a common objective. 

Mustafa realized that emerging technologies were instigating a wider scale of change than his ongoing campaigns, sparking a resolution to orient himself yet again towards identifying methods to utilize these novel technologies.

This pursuit led him to Demis Hassabis and Shane Legg, both in the midst of their Ph. D.s in computational neuroscience at University College London. They acquainted Mustafa with the newest advancements in artificial intelligence, and the following summer, the trio co-founded DeepMind. 

Note that this was a perfect duo, as Hassabis and Shane were techies, while Mustafa was more of a humanitarian. Demis Hassabis, who came from a Computer Science background, took the role of CEO, while Legg, who specialized in maths, statistics, and artificial intelligence took the lead on developing the technology at the core. 

DeepMind’s Success

DeepMind was a venture that rapidly rose to prominence among the leaders in the rapidly evolving AI landscape. At DeepMind, Suleyman was initially the Chief Product Officer and then the head of Applied AI, guiding the practical applications of DeepMind's technology. 

He implemented the usage of AI in various fields, including healthcare and energy, effectively bridging the gap between theoretical AI and real-world applications.

One of his significant contributions was in the healthcare sector, where DeepMind developed AI models to diagnose eye diseases, predict kidney disease, and assist clinicians in making more informed decisions. However, his approach was not without controversy, as it raised debates about medical data privacy.

Suleyman was also instrumental in the development and deployment of AlphaGo, the AI system that defeated a human champion in the complex board game of Go. 

Promptly, the firm positioned itself as a frontrunner in the AI industry, securing backing from notable entities like Founders Fund, Elon Musk, and Scott Banister, among others. In 2014, Google purchased DeepMind for an estimated $550M, marking the corporation's highest acquisition in Europe until then.

After that, DeepMind became Google DeepMind, and got integrated with Google Brain. Suleyman was still heading the AI project as the VP of AI Product Management & AI Policy. 

Ethical Leadership of Mustafa Suleyman

Given Mustafa's career and educational background, there are many reasons why we need more people like him in tech. In his various interviews and public discussions, Mustafa underscored three pivotal issues within the AI community. 

He first drew attention to the divide between technology creators and end users, emphasizing the implications of Silicon Valley's discriminatory hiring practices based on gender, race, and class for AI's effectiveness. 

Next, he urged for clarity about the functioning of technology to reduce fear and misinformation. Finally, he spotlighted the "structural incentive imbalance," where companies received recognition primarily for their financial triumphs. For Mustafa, financial achievement is subordinate to wider societal implications.

In February 2016, Suleyman introduced DeepMind Health at the Royal Society of Medicine. This venture aimed to create healthcare technology, led by clinicians, for the NHS and other partners to enhance primary healthcare services. 

Under Suleyman's leadership, DeepMind also initiated research partnerships with healthcare institutions in the UK, including the noteworthy Moorfields Eye Hospital NHS Foundation Trust.

In 2016, Suleyman spearheaded an initiative to utilize DeepMind's machine learning algorithms to decrease the energy consumption necessary for cooling Google's data centers. 

The system assessed billions of potential combinations of actions available to data center operators, making recommendations based on projected power usage. It introduced innovative cooling methods, which resulted in up to 40% reduction of energy spent on cooling and a 15% enhancement in the buildings' overall energy efficiency.

However, in August 2019, Suleyman was put on temporary leave following accusations of employee mistreatment and bullying. However, a leaked email from Google, to Mustafa, said that his management style did not meet the expectations at the company. 

Absence and Transition from Google

After working at Google from 2019 onward, Mustafa took a rather interesting transition. He became the ‘Non-Executive Director’ at The Economist as a board member. In December 2019, Suleyman publicly stated his intention to depart from DeepMind and accept a policy-related position at Google.

However, he left that job just three years late to find his own company, Inflection AI. Suleyman departed from Google in January 2022 and joined Greylock Partners in a venture partner role. 

Finding Infliction AI

In March 2022, Mustafa co-established Inflection AI, an AI lab venture, alongside Reid Hoffman from Greylock and Karén Simonyan, who was the Principal Research Scientist at Deep Mind. Simonyan became the Chief Scientist at Infliction AI and has the same role in Microsoft AI today. 

The newly founded company aimed to use AI to facilitate interactive communication between humans and computers. It recruited former employees from conglomerates like Google and Meta and accrued $225 million in its inaugural funding round.

In 2023, Inflection AI released a chatbot named "Pi," representing Personal Intelligence. This chatbot retains information from previous conversations, enhancing its understanding of its users over time. 

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Suleyman stated that Pi's ultimate aspiration is to function as a digital "Chief of Staff." Its existing design prioritizes sustained dialogue with users, inquiring and providing emotional reinforcement.

The chatbot is designed to engage in text or voice-based conversations with users, exhibiting qualities of kindness, diplomatic handling of delicate topics, and humor. It caught many people off-guard because of how ‘emotional’ and ‘real’ it is.

Following that, the company raised $1.3B from some big names like Nvidia, Microsoft, and others, at a valuation of $4B and became one of the highest-valued AI startups. 

Inflection AI’s Revolutionary Tech

Inflection AI is working on creating better AI hardware with Microsoft, a significant investor in OpenAI, which serves as Inflection's cloud computing collaborator. At the same time, Nvidia has been instrumental in implementing its premier H100 graphics processing unit (GPU), which is currently considered the benchmark for AI training and large language model operations like OpenAI's GPT-3. 

To build Inflection's existing H100 cluster, Nvidia worked closely with both Inflection and service provider CoreWeave. During the testing phase, which involved computational power equivalent to developing a model that typically requires three to six months, Inflection ran the test on its presently active 3,584 H100 GPUs, as Suleyman indicated.

Following this fundraising round and collaboration, Inflection's computational capabilities are set for significant expansion. Nvidia and CoreWeave, which oversees the physical deployment of the GPUs, are assisting Inflection in integrating thousands more units. 

Once fully functional, Inflection's new cluster will operate with 22,000 H100s. Inflection anticipates this setup to be the world's largest GPU cluster for AI applications, surpassing Meta's 16,000 GPU cluster.

Conscious Innovation and a Word of Warning: The Coming Wave

Suleyman doesn't shy away from acknowledging the dilemmas presented by AI. In public forums, he has frequently highlighted the need for clear and comprehensive regulation around AI and data privacy. He has been a vocal advocate of developing technologies with user consent and a clear understanding of their potential consequences.

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In 2023, he co-wrote and launched a book called ‘The Coming Wave,’ which is focused on what the future may look like, the dangers of AI, ethical practices that people with power and influence must follow, and how people can adapt to it.

Deal with Microsoft

Under a recent agreement with Inflection AI, its previous investor, Microsoft, paid $620 million to the firm for the licensing and usage of its AI models. The residual $30 million is intended to waive any potential legal claims Inflection AI may possess concerning the large-scale recruitment process.

Microsoft also announced the recruitment of Mustafa Suleyman, co-founder of Google's DeepMind and Inflection AI, to head its consumer AI operations on Tuesday. Along with Suleyman, Karen Simonyan, another co-founder, and an additional team of 70 individuals join Microsoft's newly founded division, Microsoft AI. Suleyman is positioned as the CEO of this branch, with Simonyan taking on the role of Chief Scientist.

However, there seems to be trouble in the paradise, as this deal has come under Federal Investigation due to some irregularities following the agreement. 

Final Thoughts

Mustafa Suleyman started his journey very differently and is now one of the most influential people in AI. He did not have a technical background, no college degree, and no record of working in tech when he just started building DeepMind. 

Ever since then, he has served as not just the executor but also an observer. He has worked with Google and Microsoft very closely, and we can gain many insights from his book, ‘The Coming Wave.’ 

Coming from a humanitarian, Mustafa Suleyman has been the voice of reason in the fast-paced world of artificial intelligence and has pointed out some really interesting and helpful points, and has also said that AI will create ‘losers’ in the job market. 

More than what he does, it’s more important to pay attention to what he says! Hope you found this article helpful. Thank you for reading.

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