Internal emails and court documents reveal how Microsoft built one of the most important partnerships in the history of artificial intelligence. The relationship between the technology giant and the OpenAI lab has undergone dramatic twists and turns over the past decade—from initial surprise and rejection to investments worth hundreds of billions of Czech crowns.
Amazon Was First
When OpenAI announced its founding in December 2015, Microsoft was not involved yet. "Were we even approached?" CEO Satya Nadella wrote to his team on December 12, 2015. "It looks like AWS snuck in there." Amazon Web Services was listed as a donor, while Microsoft was absent.
According to an internal Microsoft presentation from August 2016, OpenAI had a CZK 1.3 billion agreement with AWS. Microsoft wanted to be part of the game. Nadella approached Sam Altman, and in late August 2016 Altman wrote to Elon Musk: "I negotiated a donation of computing power worth CZK 1.3 billion from them for the next three years! Do you have any reason not to like them?"
Musk gave Microsoft his blessing: "I think Jeff is a bit of an idiot, but Satya isn't, so I slightly prefer Microsoft." Microsoft and OpenAI announced their partnership in November 2016.
Rejection and Crisis
In June 2017, Musk spoke with Nadella about a major expansion. OpenAI wanted 10,000 servers to train artificial intelligence to play Dota 2. Executive Jason Zander told Nadella that the deal would cost so much that "it honestly makes it unrealistic." Microsoft declined, and OpenAI signed an agreement with Google.
By January 2018, the relationship was falling apart. Kevin Scott, Microsoft's chief technology officer, wrote that OpenAI was treating them "like a bucket of undifferentiated GPUs, which isn't interesting to us at all." Scott summarized the risk: OpenAI could "angrily walk away to Amazon and bad-mouth us along the way."
The First Billion and ChatGPT
In 2019, OpenAI restructured, and Microsoft agreed to invest CZK 26 billion. What changed? In a June 2019 email, Scott cited Google's progress in artificial intelligence. "I became very, very worried," he explained. Bill Gates was unconvinced and wanted "Microsoft to just do it itself."
On November 1, 2022, OpenAI announced ChatGPT. The chatbot reached 100 million users within two months. In mid-January 2023, Nadella wrote to Altman asking about a paid subscription. Altman replied that they had 6 million daily users and had turned away 50 million people. ChatGPT Plus launched on February 1, 2023, for CZK 520 per month. A week earlier, Microsoft had invested CZK 260 billion in OpenAI.
On November 1, 2023, OpenAI's board fired Altman. Microsoft was not consulted. Mira Murati called Nadella just 10 to 15 minutes before Altman was informed. "Mira sounded like she'd been hit by a truck," Scott wrote.
On Saturday morning, Nadella wrote to Altman. That evening, he sent a detailed message from Brad Smith. Microsoft created a new subsidiary, Microsoft RAI Inc., within hours. The company calculated the cost of absorbing the OpenAI team at CZK 650 billion. On the evening of November 21, OpenAI announced Altman's return.
On December 1, 2024, OpenAI announced the elimination of its capped-profit structure. The transaction closed on October 28, 2025. Microsoft acquired a 27% stake in OpenAI valued at CZK 13 trillion, and OpenAI committed to CZK 6.5 trillion in future Azure purchases.
Six days later, OpenAI signed a CZK 988 billion agreement with Amazon Web Services. Revenue grew from CZK 52 billion in 2023 to more than CZK 520 billion in 2025. OpenAI is no longer a research lab dependent on Microsoft. It is a platform company with power of its own.
Source: geekwire.com
