Eh whether legit or not they tried to seek funding through alternative means like educational institutions but were getting nowhere.

As much as it sucks, the Microsoft deal made a ton of sense for both parties, they got the massive amount of compute needed to train their models and MS got AI.

Truth is they are an AI company and it is EXPENSIVE to push that tech. Idk if they could’ve done it a better way, maybe but no way they’d be where they are at now without MS.