Microsoft invests $1 billion in AI startup

Microsoft Corp. MSFT, 1.32% is making a huge bet on artificial intelligence by sinking $1 billion into AI startup OpenAI, the companies announced Monday. Under a partnership, OpenAI will run all of its services on Microsoft's Azure cloud platform and use Microsoft as its preferred partner for commercializing new AI tech. On its website, OpenAI says its mission is "to ensure that artificial general intelligence (AGI) -- by which we mean highly autonomous systems that outperform humans at most economically valuable work -- benefits all of humanity." Microsoft, which is currently the only U.S. company valued at more than $1 trillion, recently reported strong earnings growth driven by Azure. Shares were up 1.2% to $138.19 in recent trading Monday, compared with a flat Dow Jones Industrial Average DJIA, 0.07% a 0.3% gain in the S&P 500 index SPX, 0.28% and a 0.7% gain in the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite Index COMP, 0.71%