When it comes to Bill Gates, many people may feel that they haven't heard from him for a long time.
He was implicated in the Epstein scandal on the front foot, and in 2021, he was investigated for having improper relationships with several female employees of the company, resigned from Microsoft under pressure, and divorced his ex-wife Melinda.
The impact of this incident was so great that the persona that Gates and his PR team had built over the years collapsed.
(Bill Gates and ex-wife divorced)
In the years that followed, Gates faded out of the public eye, and he was rarely heard from, making it hard not to suspect that he had been kicked out of the game by Microsoft.
However, recently, the website of Business Insider, a well-known American business magazine, published an article that shattered this speculation.
They broke the news that "Bill Gates never left" because insiders said that Gates is still behind Microsoft.
His shadow is everywhere in the major decisions made by the company......
(Business Insider)
When it comes to the core of competition in the science and technology circle in recent years, there must be one word - AI artificial intelligence technology.
Microsoft has also begun to lay out and participate in this competition a long time ago, and Gates is at the helm behind the scenes.
In 2017, Gates shared a memo with Satya Nadella, Microsoft's chief executive, and a small group of company executives making predictions about AI.
In the memo, he said that a digital personal assistant that can anticipate everyone's needs, "AI agents," will soon bring about a new world order.
The AI is more powerful than Apple's AI assistant Siri and Amazon's AI assistant Alexa, with deep knowledge and supernatural intuition.
"AI will not only change the way everyone interacts with computers, but it will also disrupt the software industry, bringing about the biggest computing revolution since typing commands to clicking icons," Gates wrote in the memo. ”
Gates has always had an "artificial intelligence dream".
In 1995, he wrote a book, "Embracing the Future," in which he described how he wanted everyone to be able to browse the Internet with a unique piece of software that could understand your needs and preferences in a human-like way.
(Bill Gates' book "Embracing the Future")
Gates also led Microsoft to make some attempts in artificial intelligence, but they were not effective and were even ridiculed by the outside world.
For example, Rover, the cartoon dog in Windows 95, Clippy, the paperclip assistant in Office, and Tay, a chatbot with racist issues.
(Memes created by netizens: ideal and realistic versions of Rover and Clippy)
So when they saw Gates's prediction, Microsoft's executives were skeptical and felt that it was unrealistic.
One executive, who asked not to be named, said: "That looks just futuristic." ”
At the time, few people believed that a new generation of personal agents could really change Microsoft, and it was all about Gates.
Ten years ago, Nadella took over as CEO of Microsoft, and on the day he took office, he made a "request" to his former boss Gates, asking Gates to devote 30% of his time as a technical consultant.
One of the reasons is to motivate employees, and the phrase "I want you to be part of this project that Gates is in charge of" cheers them up.
(Gates and Nadella)
In 2020, Gates stepped down as chairman of Microsoft's board of directors.
At the time, Nadella praised him and promised that Microsoft "will continue to benefit from Bill's passion and advice on technology to drive our products and services forward."
Another year passed, and that happened.
In 2021, Gates resigned from Microsoft after being embroiled in a scandal over an extramarital affair.
People feel that Nadella has always used Gates as a mentor before, and now that Gates has become his biggest burden, he and Microsoft will quickly draw a line with Gates.
However, Business Insider understands a completely different picture.
It is said that Nadella not only did not kick Gates out of the company, but also secretly authorized him to participate in the work, continued to follow his advice, and used his professional knowledge and insight, which made Gates a key figure in leading Microsoft's fight on the AI battlefield.
Both current and former Microsoft executives say Gates has been intimately involved in the company's operations, including providing strategic advice, reviewing products, and hiring top executives.
It's just that all this is done in secret.
(Bill Gates)
One of Gates's jobs was to facilitate Microsoft's partnership with OpenAI and maintain an important relationship between Microsoft and OpenAI's co-founder, Sam Allman.
OpenAI was originally a startup founded by Tesla's Elon Musk, Sam Allman, president of American startup incubator Y Combinator, and Peter Thiel, co-founder of global online payment platform PayPal.
Now it's a big name because it launched the chatbot ChatGPT that amazed everyone.
The most common version of the marriage between the two companies was brokered by Kevin Scott, Microsoft's chief technology officer.
Scott is an old friend of OpenAI's co-founder, Sam Allman, who arranged for Allman to meet with Microsoft CEO Nadella in the summer of 2018, and later that year, the three reached an initial agreement.
In 2023, Microsoft entered into a partnership with OpenAI.
（OpenAI联合创始人奥尔曼）
All of the above is public, but in fact, Gates is the covert promoter of this cooperation.
Since 2016, Gates has been meeting regularly with people at OpenAI.
After the partnership between the two companies was established, OpenAI executives regularly reported to Gates' mansion to keep him informed of key issues and obstacles.
In mid-2022, Gates privately gave OpenAI a question, asking them to create a model and require it to pass the American college prerequisite exam in biology, but Gates had no hope of this.
In August, Gates hosted a dinner party at his home, and Allman, the co-founder of OpenAI, also went and showed off their company's new invention, GPT-4, live.
When GPT-4 passed the test, Gates was shocked and immediately said, "This is the most amazing demo I've ever seen in my life."
GPT-4's performance gave Gates a lot of inspiration to write a memo.
He thinks that large language models trained on the public Internet may usher in the era of individual agents.
"Think of it like a digital personal assistant. ”
"It can see your latest emails, learn about the meetings you've attended, read what you've read, and what you don't want to see. ”
（GPT-4）
Shortly after that dinner, Microsoft CEO Nadella hosted a meeting to challenge the team with the task of integrating AI into search, cybersecurity, and Microsoft 365 applications.
With OpenAI as a partner, Microsoft has been empowered, and new products have been developed beautifully.
(Sadra Holman)
In 2023, Microsoft launched a new version of its search engine Bing, using the same technology as ChatGPT, adding the artificial intelligence assistant Copilot.
Powered by OpenAI's GPT large language mode, Copilot is unveiled as a tool in Microsoft products to help users prepare presentations, summarize meeting content, and more.
The executive above who had doubted Gates' prediction couldn't help but admire,
"Copilot now looks exactly like he said he would. ”
（Copilot）
The outside world thinks that Microsoft CEO Nadella is leading this matter, but in fact, Gates is the one behind the scenes and plays a key role in formulating the plan.
Under Gates's stewardship, Microsoft's search engine Bing has gone from a checkmate state to an AI-powered tool that challenges competitors such as Google.
Copilot has also helped Microsoft become one of the most valuable publicly traded companies in the world.
Microsoft executives also recognize Gates' role.
One executive said, "What you see is not the truth. Nadella and the entire executive team rely heavily on Gates. ”
"Every time we make a big change, we ask for his opinion. ”
Moreover, Gates has been in close contact with OpenAI's co-founder, Sam Allman.
Allman visits his home several times a year and asks him for advice about OpenAI.
An insider revealed: "Sam and Bill are good friends. ”
"OpenAI will listen carefully to him (Bill Gates) and consult. ”
When OpenAI's board abruptly fired Allman last fall, Microsoft's CEO was also helping to quell the storm.
Five days after Allman's fire, Gates reached out to Allman and offered to help him return to leadership at OpenAI.
(Gates & Allman)
Artificial intelligence is just the first example of this.
According to insiders, Gates now has far more influence over Microsoft than OpenAI has over Microsoft.
Gates was regularly met with by executives from various parts of Microsoft, including Charles Lamanna, head of business-applications, Jaime Teevan, chief scientist, and Charlie Bell, head of cybersecurity.
Gates is also personally involved in the recruitment and retention of key Microsoft executives.
According to one former executive, "Gates is actively involved in product reviews and one-on-one meetings with executives. ”
Last year, Gates also revealed in an interview with Forbes that he spends about 10 percent of his time in Redmond, Washington, where Microsoft is headquartered, advising Microsoft on its product roadmap.
As an example, Gates has been pushing Microsoft to be user-centric for years.
In March, Microsoft surprised many observers by announcing that it had hired Mustafa Suleyman, co-founder of artificial intelligence company DeepMind and a longtime Google employee, to lead a new user AI unit.
Bill Gates sees the main opportunity as the user. ”
(Bill Gates)
So in general, Gates's close connection with Microsoft is very different from what the outside world sees.
Gates has kept a low profile, surviving the scandal unscathed.
In his Wikipedia entry, there is not even a mention of the accusations of misconduct against him.
As for the job he wants to do, Gates is in decline, and at the age of 69, he still has ambitions.
As he wrote in his book "Embracing the Future",
"I want to challenge the traditional ...... of history"