As executives told Business Insider, Gates has been quietly driving most of Microsoft’s artificial intelligence plans from behind the scenes. He advised CEO Satya Nadella on major decisions, reviewed products across multiple teams, recruited high-level staff, and supported the company’s key partnership with OpenAI, which created popular AI tools such as Copilot.
“What you’re reading is not in reality,” one Microsoft executive told Business Insider. “Satya and the entire senior leadership team rely very heavily on Gates. His opinion is sought every time we make a major change,” he added.
Sources say that despite publicly distancing itself from Gates following 2021 revelations about his workplace misconduct, Microsoft continues to rely heavily on the billionaire’s technical expertise and artificial intelligence vision. Nadella, in particular, left Gates in a key advisor role because he asked him to devote 30% of his time to the role when he first became CEO in 2014.
“Gates Driving Microsoft’s Artificial Intelligence” Gates has played a key role in Microsoft’s AI efforts, including its planned 2022 OpenAI-powered modernization of its Bing search engine. Back in 2017, it released an internal memo in which it predicted that “AI agents” would trigger a computing revolution by anticipating user needs, leading to products such as the Copilot assistant.
After a private dinner at Gates’ home in 2022, when OpenAI CEO Sam Altman debuted that GPT-4 could pass the AP Biology exam, Gates wrote another memo outlining how Microsoft should leverage the powerful AI model in its services. His vision is said to have kicked Microsoft’s artificial intelligence integration into high gear.
“Gates’ words were taken as gospel, helping Microsoft in its push to lead the AI arms race,” one executive said.
Despite officially leaving Microsoft, Gates maintained a close relationship with Altman and OpenAI. According to the source, the two are “good friends” and OpenAI regularly turns to Gates for advice.
Boost
Continued strength and commitment Beyond artificial intelligence, Gates remains deeply committed to Microsoft as a whole. He regularly meets with top leaders such as Office Chief Charles Lamanna, Scientist Jaime Teevan and Cybersecurity Chief Charlie Bell to review products and strategies.
Gates also plays a key role in the hiring process, such as pushing for the recent hiring of former Google executive Mustafa Suleyman to head its novel consumer artificial intelligence division despite Microsoft’s problems in that market.
“Bill G. believes the biggest opportunity is consumers,” the insider said. “If you look at the novel consumer AI organization, it looks like Bill influenced Satya.”
While Gates may no longer serve in an official capacity, his continued presence behind the scenes at Microsoft undermines the company’s stated commitment to changing its workplace culture following allegations of misconduct against him.
As one former executive put it bluntly: “Gates is very involved in product reviews and one-on-one conversations with executives.” Although his role was to be deprioritized, the 67-year-old cemented his status as the man behind the curtain shaping Microsoft’s direction and future.
Gates’ orchestration of OpenAI has helped Microsoft become one of the world’s most valuable public companies, worth more than $3 trillion.
