Software computing giant Microsoft is investing $1 billion (£800,000) in San Francisco-based research lab, Open AI. Founded by Silicon Valley big wigs, Elon Musk and Sam Altman, OpenAI is focused on creating artificial general intelligence (AGI).

Originally founded as a non-profit in 2015 with $1bn funding from Silicon Valley investors, Sam Altman, Peter Thiel and LinkedIn co-founder Reid Hoffman, among others, the company specialises in training robots using artificial intelligence (AI).

The company’s researchers have successfully come up with a technique to teach a robotic hand to perform tasks entirely in software, thus cutting down the time and cost it takes to train robots. As well as making advances in the field of AI, the lab has also explored the implications and ethical use of AI.

OpenAI said it will put this fresh investment towards researching AGI, which would enable a computing system to learn and master more than one subject better than its human counterparts. It would mean a machine could successfully perform any intellectual task a human being can.

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Altman, OpenAI CEO, said: “We believe it’s crucial that AGI is deployed safely and securely and that its economic benefits are widely distributed. We are excited about how deeply Microsoft shares this vision.”

According to Microsoft, the two companies will collaborate to build new AI technologies on Microsoft’s Azure cloud computing service. As part of the partnership, OpenAI will move most of its services, although not all, to Azure. Microsoft will also become OpenAI’s preferred partner to commercialise new services.

Earlier this year, the research lab established a separate for-profit limited partnership to take outside investment, which is controlled by the nonprofit’s board. In March, OpenAI said that returns on investment for this structure would be capped and that the nonprofit’s mission would supersede turning a profit.

Neither company has yet commented on the details of the deal or outlined what the terms are. Both have declined to comment on how Microsoft’s return on its investment would be capped, or how any profits or revenues from the developed tech would be divided between the two entities.

The two companies also declined to comment on what form Microsoft’s investment would take. For example, would it be made in cash or would it involve credits for Azure cloud services, one of OpenAI’s biggest costs? In the 2017 tax year, OpenAI spent $7.9 million (£6.3m) on cloud computing, which is equivalent to a quarter of its total functional expenses for that year.