AI

Using AI to defeat ‘Ms. Pac-Man,’ meeting the Xbox One X and analyzing Microsoft’s Data Insights Summit — Weekend Reading: June 16 edition

- Suzanne Choney

The official start of summer is just days away, but no one is slacking around here. This week, we saw how Microsoft researchers used artificial intelligence (AI) to master what was thought to be the un-masterable “Ms. Pac-Man,” an addictive 1980s video game. We met the new Xbox One X, a console system designed to play the best games of the past, present and future. And we hung out at … Read more »

Empowering developers, controlling Parkinson’s tremors and offering free apps for Mom – Weekend Reading: May 12 edition

- Susanna Ray

Developers were in focus this week, as Microsoft welcomed thousands of them to Seattle for Build 2017, the company’s annual developer conference. “In a world of near infinite compute power and an exponential growth in data, we are focused on empowering every developer to build applications for this new era of intelligent cloud and intelligent edge,” said Chief Executive Officer Satya Nadella, highlighting examples of innovations happening today. Harry Shum, … Read more »

Microsoft Build 2017: Microsoft AI – Amplify human ingenuity

- Harry Shum - Executive Vice President, Microsoft AI and Research Group
Photo of Harry Shum at Build 2017

A few years ago, it was hard to think of a commonly used technology tool that used AI. In a few years, it will be hard to imagine any technology that doesn’t tap into the power of AI. Thanks to the convergence of three major forces — increased computing power in the cloud, powerful algorithms that run on deep neural networks and access to massive amounts of data — we’re … Read more »

Watch an easy guide to everything AI on ‘Explanimators,’ a new video series from Microsoft Story Labs

- Thomas Kohnstamm

Who says that cartoons are for kids? Artificial intelligence (AI) kicks off the Microsoft Story Labs animated “Explanimators” series about big, important, cutting-edge areas of technology that remain mysterious (if not just plain confusing) to people who don’t have an engineering or computer science degree. While artificial intelligence is increasingly all around us, helping people do more, save time and work smarter – let’s be honest – it’s tricky to … Read more »

Making your digital difference

- Judson Althoff - Executive Vice President, Worldwide Commercial Business
Photo of Widsteen, Lundberg and Althoff discussing digital transformation on stage

I am in New York City today, where we are hosting “Digital Difference.” More than a dozen forward-thinking companies joined us to showcase how they are driving digital transformation – and making a difference – for their businesses. It was exciting to share how UBS, the world’s largest wealth manager, is driving its digital strategy with us, powering its risk management on Azure. Maersk, the largest shipping company in the … Read more »

Golf’s green jacket, a Special Olympics tech makeover and a Q&A about ‘deep learning’ – Weekend Reading: April 7 edition

- Susanna Ray

Golf fans have a big weekend ahead, with all eyes on Augusta, Georgia, for one of the most prestigious tournaments of the year. If the weather’s nice and you’re itching to get off the couch and play a round yourself, take Bing along as your virtual caddy to keep an eye on the pros and see who will win the coveted green jacket on Sunday. Bing will provide round-by-round scores, … Read more »

Companies in Korea and India choose Microsoft Azure to fuel their digital transformation

- Julia White - Corporate Vice President, Microsoft Azure & Security
Photo of Binny Bansal and Satya Nadella smiling and shaking hands

Driven by strong customer demand for cloud computing, we continue to invest to deliver an intelligent, global and trusted cloud for our customers. In India, Flipkart – the country’s leading marketplace – and Tata Motors, as well as Korean companies LG Electronics, Asan Medical Center and Samsung Electronics, are all leveraging the scalability, availability and resiliency of the Microsoft cloud to enable their digital transformation. I’m pleased to share that … Read more »

Making drones safer, teeing off with high-tech golf and proposing a Digital Geneva Convention — Weekend Reading: Feb. 17 edition

- Athima Chansanchai

In this latest edition of Weekend Reading we have a lot to report, including news on the RSA Conference, an open source set of tools to help researchers and developers train and test drones and other gadgets, and how technology is transforming golf. This year’s RSA Conference in San Francisco brought the world’s security professionals together to discuss cybersecurity at a critical time, writes Microsoft President Brad Smith. Just as … Read more »

Microsoft and partners combine the cloud, AI, research and industry expertise to focus on transforming health care

- Peter Lee - Corporate Vice President, Microsoft Research NExT
Two doctors look over brain scans in a clinical setting

Microsoft announces new health-focused initiatives and solutions, and emerging strategic research partnership with UPMC The goal is noble: Empower people to lead healthier lives. And yet, few industries in the world face more complex problems than health care. Disparate and disconnected information systems, the uncertainties within regulatory environments around the world and the inevitable disruptions in core business models all pose perplexing and interlocking challenges. As we look at some … Read more »

Microsoft acquires deep learning startup Maluuba; AI pioneer Yoshua Bengio to have advisory role

- Harry Shum - Executive Vice President, Microsoft AI and Research Group

Today is an exciting day for the advancement of AI at Microsoft. We have agreed to acquire Maluuba, a Montreal-based company with one of the world’s most impressive deep learning research labs for natural language understanding. Maluuba’s expertise in deep learning and reinforcement learning for question-answering and decision-making systems will help us advance our strategy to democratize AI and to make it accessible and valuable to everyone — consumers, businesses … Read more »