Mustafa Suleyman (born 1984) is a prominent British artificial intelligence entrepreneur and executive. He is the co-founder of DeepMind and Inflection AI, and currently serves as the Executive Vice President and CEO of Microsoft AI. His career has been marked by significant contributions to the development of commercial artificial intelligence, as well as advocacy for AI safety, ethics, and the role of technology in addressing global social challenges. Born in London, England, Suleyman was raised in the borough of Islington. His father was a taxi driver from Syria, and his mother was a nurse for the National Health Service (NHS). He attended Thornhill Primary School and later Queen Elizabeth's School in Barnet, a selective boys' grammar school. During his teenage years, Suleyman formed a friendship with Demis Hassabis, who would later become his co-founder at DeepMind. Following his secondary education, Suleyman enrolled at Mansfield College, Oxford, to study philosophy and theology. However, he left the university at age 19, opting to pursue professional ventures focused on social impact rather than completing his degree. Suleyman began his career in the non-profit and public sectors. In 2001, he helped launch the Muslim Youth Helpline, a telephone-based counseling service that became a significant mental health resource. He subsequently worked as a policy officer focusing on human rights for the Mayor of London, Ken Livingstone, and later co-founded Reos Partners, a consultancy that utilized conflict resolution and "systemic change" methodologies to address complex social issues. In 2010, Suleyman, along with Demis Hassabis and Shane Legg, co-founded DeepMind Technologies. As the company’s chief product officer, he played a central role in establishing the organization as a leader in AI research. DeepMind gained global recognition for its breakthroughs in machine learning, particularly in reinforcement learning and game-playing algorithms. In 2014, Google acquired DeepMind for approximately £400 million, marking one of the largest technology acquisitions in Europe at that time. Following the acquisition, Suleyman served as Head of Applied AI at DeepMind, where he oversaw the integration of the company’s AI technologies into Google’s products and infrastructure. During this period, he also launched DeepMind Health, an initiative focused on utilizing AI for clinical tools in the NHS. In 2019, Suleyman was placed on leave following reports of concerns regarding his management style; he later addressed these reports, acknowledging that his approach had been overly demanding. In 2022, after departing Google, Suleyman co-founded Inflection AI alongside LinkedIn co-founder Reid Hoffman and AI researcher Karén Simonyan. The startup focused on creating personalized, "AI-first" products, notably launching "Pi" (Personal Intelligence), a conversational AI designed for friendly interaction and assistance. In March 2024, Microsoft appointed Suleyman as Executive Vice President and CEO of a newly formed division, Microsoft AI. This role involves leading the development of Microsoft’s consumer AI products, including Copilot. Many of his colleagues from Inflection AI transitioned to the new organization alongside him. At Microsoft, Suleyman has focused on scaling the company’s consumer AI initiatives and has publicly stated his mission to pursue the development of "human superintelligence"—AI systems designed to work specifically in service of human objectives. Outside of his corporate roles, Suleyman has been an influential voice in the discourse surrounding AI safety and ethics. He is a founding co-chair of the Partnership on AI, a coalition involving major technology firms, and has served as a senior fellow at the Harvard Kennedy School’s Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs. In 2019, he was appointed a Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) for his services to the UK technology sector. He is the author of the book "The Coming Wave: Technology, Power, and the Twenty-first Century's Greatest Dilemma," in which he explores the geopolitical and existential risks posed by rapidly advancing AI and synthetic biology.