Amazon’s AI announcement, Microsoft counters with its own $2.5 billion unit

Tech giant Microsoft is committing $2.5 billion to a new artificial intelligence implementation unit, which will employ 6,000 new people. The new unit, called Microsoft Frontier Co., is expected to focus on AI operations. The initiative’s 6,000 employees, mostly made up of industry and engineering experts, will co-design, co-innovate, deploy, and continuously improve AI systems at scale based on measurable business outcomes. The division will include existing Microsoft Forward Deployed Engineers, technical consultants, and support staff, hoping to create the “largest, most capable, outcome-driven engineering organization in the industry.”This year, Microsoft is projected to spend $190 billion in capital expenditures for AI. Such an amount is a significant jump for the tech company, which has increased its AI budget by 61 percent year-over-year. Who do you think has an upper hand in leading the AI innovations ?