At the time, Mr Smith said the decision was “bad for Britain” and that “people’s confidence in technology in the UK has been severely shaken”.
He told the BBC at the time: “There’s a clear message here – the European Union is a more attractive place to start a business than the United Kingdom.”
The CMA later gave the $69bn deal the green light after it was restructured by Microsoft.
Microsoft’s AI investment in the UK includes building a major new data centre in West London and installing 20,000 high-powered processors in the UK by 2026.
Mr Suleyman, who previously co-founded UK machine-learning business DeepMind before it was acquired by Google in 2014, said: “I’m excited to make this commitment to the UK on behalf of Microsoft AI.
“I know – through my close work with thought leaders in the UK government, business community and academia – that the country is committed to advancing AI responsibly.”
Mr Suleyman left DeepMind in 2022, before founding his own AI business called Inflection. He was hired in March to lead Microsoft’s AI efforts.
