Microsoft's AI Chief Calls Elon Musk a 'Bulldozer' With 'Superhuman Capabilities'

Mustafa Suleyman, who leads AI at Microsoft, offered his perspectives on fellow AI leaders in a recent interview with Bloomberg. Suleyman, known for co-founding DeepMind with Demis Hassabis and later Inflection AI before joining Microsoft, shared his thoughts on figures like Sam Altman of OpenAI.

Suleyman described Altman as “courageous,” highlighting OpenAI's ambitious construction of AI data centers to support ChatGPT's computational demands. “He may well turn out to be one of the great entrepreneurs of our generation,” Suleyman said, adding, “He’s certainly achieved a lot... and if he can pull it off, it will be pretty dramatic.” Despite concerns about OpenAI's spending relative to its revenue, Suleyman expressed confidence in the company's prospects.

Turning to Hassabis, Suleyman lauded him as a great scientist and thinker. “I think he’s a great thinker and he’s a good polymath. He’s made massive contributions in the field, multiple times. He’s truly exceptional.” Suleyman also mentioned that he and Hassabis, despite now being competitors, remain friends and communicate regularly. He recently congratulated Hassabis on Nano Banana, Gemini 3, and AlphaFold.

When asked about Elon Musk, who co-founded OpenAI, Suleyman's assessment was particularly striking.