Responsible AI, the Microsoft way

Concerns about ethical and responsible use of AI are as old as the discipline itself. But so far it has been rare in our modern (i.e. from about 2012 onwards) AI journey to find these concerns being put into the practice of shipping software by the companies that build and sell AI software beyond laying… Continue reading Responsible AI, the Microsoft way

Microsoft-OpenAI partnership is a big deal for AI development

Today Microsoft and OpenAI announced a multi-year partnership, including a $1bn investment by Microsoft in OpenAI, a prominent AI research organization. OpenAI was founded in 2015 by Elon Musk and Sam Altman, founded with the goal of developing Artificial General Intelligence (AGI) for the common good with $1bn in backing from prominent Silicon Valley figures including… Continue reading Microsoft-OpenAI partnership is a big deal for AI development

Microsoft’s need to make its voice louder in conversational AI drives Semantic Machines buy

Microsoft's need to make its voice louder in conversational artificial intelligence (AI) has driven its acquisition of Semantic Machines, announced this week. Semantic Machines focuses on understanding conversations, not just phrases, to support full conversations in voice or text. It has speech recognition technology and natural language generation (NLG) technology to communicate with the user… Continue reading Microsoft’s need to make its voice louder in conversational AI drives Semantic Machines buy

Equivio deal is classic Microsoft – good enough eDiscovery & info governance

So the long-rumoured acquisition of Equivio by Microsoft has finally been confirmed. It the comparatively small world of eDiscovery it caused quite a lot of navel-gazing when news first emerged in October 2014. The price is apparently somewhere in the $150m-$200m, which is chump change to Microsoft but a nice return for Equivio's investors and management - a… Continue reading Equivio deal is classic Microsoft – good enough eDiscovery & info governance