Oct 14 (Reuters) - Microsoft ( MSFT ) on Monday said

that its vice president of GenAI research, Sebastien Bubeck, is

leaving the company to join ChatGPT-maker OpenAI.

It was unclear what role Bubeck would assume at the

Microsoft ( MSFT )-backed AI startup.

"Sebastian has decided to leave Microsoft ( MSFT ) to further his

work toward developing AGI," a spokesperson for Microsoft ( MSFT ) said,

adding that the company looks forward to continuing their

relationship through Bubeck's work with OpenAI.

Bubeck did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for

confirmation.

Most of Bubeck's coauthors who worked on a research paper on

Microsoft's ( MSFT ) Phi LLMs, which are smaller than traditional large

language models (LLMs), remain at Microsoft ( MSFT ) and plan to continue

developing the models, according to the Information, which first

reported his departure.

The development follows a series of departures from OpenAI,

including that of longtime chief technology officer Mira Murati

in September.

CEO Sam Altman has denied any link between the departures

and a planned restructuring of the company.