Microsoft announced it would build an AI hub in London as part of a planned long-term investment to develop consumer products and foster research in the UK.

Mustafa Suleyman, EVP and CEO of Microsoft AI, stated in a blog the hub will “drive pioneering work to advance state-of-the-art language models and their supporting infrastructure”.

The Microsoft AI London hub will also develop tooling for foundation models and collaborate with additional AI teams across Microsoft and partners such as OpenAI. 

The hub will be led by Jordan Hoffmann, who Suleyman described as an AI pioneer.  Hoffman had career stops at Inflection AI and London-based DeepMind.

Suleyman, who was born and raised in London, was a co-founder of both Inflection AI and DeepMind prior to joining the tech giant last month as the head of the newly formed Microsoft AI consumer group.

He stated Microsoft AI will be posting job openings at the hub over the coming weeks and months.  

“I’m deeply aware of the extraordinary talent pool and AI ecosystem in the UK and I’m excited to make this commitment to the UK on behalf of Microsoft AI,” the executive said.

The blog also highlighted Microsoft’s previous AI activity in the UK, including a £2.5 billion investment announced in November 2023 to expand its AI data centre footprint as well as its Microsoft Research Cambridge lab which undertakes AI, cloud and productivity research.

Earlier this month, the UK and US signed a Memorandum of Understanding to establish a partnership around enhancing safe development and usage of AI.