--- description: Find out why Mustafa Suleyman made TIME’s list of the most influential people in artificial intelligence. title: TIME100 AI 2024: Mustafa Suleyman image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt3558a4a46aedb237/698a5a9309208ff7e941d917/NEW-TIME100-AI-2024-INNOVATORS_Mustafa-Suleyman-NEW.jpg?branch=production&width=2400&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 --- Sep 05, 2024 # Mustafa Suleyman by [Harry Booth](/author/harry-booth/) ## Harry Booth Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Booth is a reporter at TIME.  Photo-Illustration by TIME (Source: Courtesy of Mustafa Suleyman) This March, Mustafa Suleyman left his startup Inflection AI to become the CEO of Microsoft AI, a newly-formed unit focused on the company’s consumer artificial intelligence research and products, like Copilot, Bing and Edge. [Almost all](https://www.nytimes.com/2024/08/08/technology/ai-start-ups-google-microsoft-amazon.html "undefined") of Inflection’s staff followed Suleyman to Microsoft from the startup that was valued at $4 billion. At the same time, Microsoft inked a $650 million deal with the startup to access its AI models. Suleyman took a humanistic approach to technology with his strategy at Inflection. The company sought to create the first “emotionally intelligent” chatbot. In a [TED Talk](https://www.ted.com/talks/mustafa%5Fsuleyman%5Fwhat%5Fis%5Fan%5Fai%5Fanyway/transcript?subtitle=en "undefined"), a month after joining Microsoft, he described himself as someone “who’s always cared deeply about \[technology’s\] ethics.” Back in 2018, while at DeepMind—the Google-owned AI lab he co-founded—Suleyman signed an [open letter](https://futureoflife.org/open-letter/lethal-autonomous-weapons-pledge/?cn-reloaded=1 "undefined") endorsing a ban on lethal autonomous weapons. Yet he has become embroiled in some ethical tangles of his own. He departed DeepMind in 2019 following [accusations](https://www.businessinsider.com/deepmind-mustafa-suleyman-google-allegations-bullying-settlements-2021-8 "undefined") that he had bullied his staffers. He later [apologized](https://greylock.com/firm-news/welcome-mustafa-suleyman/ "undefined") for his behavior. More recently, Microsoft’s arrangement with Suleyman and Inflection came under regulatory scrutiny, with the U.K. Competition and Markets Authority launching an [investigation](https://www.gov.uk/cma-cases/microsoft-slash-inflection-ai-inquiry "undefined") into whether it constituted a merger. On Sept. 4, the watchdog cleared the deal, saying that, while it qualified as a merger, it did not cause competition concerns. Microsoft and Inflection had [said](https://www.theguardian.com/business/article/2024/jul/16/microsoft-deal-with-ai-startup-to-be-investigated-by-uk-competition-watchdog "undefined") that they would cooperate with the watchdog. Microsoft added that it believes hiring talent promotes competition and shouldn’t be treated as a merger. [_Buy your copy of the TIME100 AI issue here_](https://magazineshop.us/TIME100AI "undefined") ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"Article","@id":"https://time.com/collections/time100-ai-2024/7012714/mustafa-suleyman/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/collections/time100-ai-2024/7012714/mustafa-suleyman/"},"headline":"Mustafa Suleyman","datePublished":"2024-09-05T11:02:01.000Z","dateModified":"2026-04-13T11:54:20.914Z","description":"","url":"https://time.com/collections/time100-ai-2024/7012714/mustafa-suleyman/","keywords":["Tech"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt3558a4a46aedb237/698a5a9309208ff7e941d917/NEW-TIME100-AI-2024-INNOVATORS_Mustafa-Suleyman-NEW.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Harry Booth","jobTitle":"Booth is a reporter at TIME.","url":"https://time.com/author/harry-booth/"}],"creator":"Harry Booth","articleSection":"Business","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt3558a4a46aedb237/698a5a9309208ff7e941d917/NEW-TIME100-AI-2024-INNOVATORS_Mustafa-Suleyman-NEW.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/business/","name":"Business"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/time-section-tech/","name":"Tech"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/collections/time100-ai-2024/7012714/mustafa-suleyman/","name":"Mustafa Suleyman"}}]}] ```