Microsoft has announced the formation of its new Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Research Group. The new division of the company will consist of over 5,000 employees and will include the Cortana and Bing product teams along with its Microsoft Research group.
Microsoft's press release states:
Microsoft is dedicated to democratizing AI for every person and organization, making it more accessible and valuable to everyone and ultimately enabling new ways to solve some of society's toughest challenges. Today's announcement builds on the company's deep focus on AI and will accelerate the delivery of new capabilities to customers across agents, apps, services and infrastructure.
The new AI and Research Group will be lead by Executive Vice President Harry Shum, who has worked at Microsoft for 20 years and is the current head of Microsoft Research. In a statement, he said:
I've worked on both research and product teams, and I see incredible potential for this new group. Today, AI is shifting the computer science research supply chain and blurring lines between research and product. End-to-end innovation in AI will not come from isolated research labs alone, but from the combination of at-scale production workloads together with deep technology advancements in algorithms, systems and experiences. The new group will provide greater opportunity to accelerate our innovation in AI, and to enable Microsoft to create truly intelligent systems and products for our customers. I believe we have some of the best AI talent on the planet, and we'll continue to attract even more.
