XING XIE: Thank you for having me.  HUIZINGA: So let’s start with a brief overview of the background for this white paper on Societal AI. In just a few sentences, tell us how the idea came about and what key principles drove the work.  XIE: The idea for this white paper emerged in response to the shift we are witnessing in the AI landscape. Particularly since the release of ChatGPT in late 2022, these models didn’t just change the pace […]

In October 2022, Microsoft Research Asia hosted a workshop that brought together experts in computer science, psychology, sociology, and law as part of Microsoft’s commitment to responsible AI (opens in new tab). The event led to ongoing collaborations exploring AI’s societal implications, including the

[THEME MUSIC FADES]  The passage I read at the top there is from Chapter 9, “Safety First.”  One needs only to look at examples such as laws mandating seatbelts in cars and, more recently, internet regulation to know that policy and oversight are often playing catch-up with emerging technologies. When we were writing our book, Carey, Zak, and I didn’t claim that putting frameworks in place to allow for innovation and adoption while prioritizing inclusiveness and protecting patients from hallucination […]

In this issue: Catch a preview of our presentations and papers at CHI 2025 and ICLR 2025. We also introduce new research on causal reasoning and LLMs; enhancing LLM jailbreak capabilities to bolster safety and robustness; understanding how people using AI compared to AI-alone, and Distill-MOS, a compact and efficient model that delivers state-of-the-art speech quality assessment. You’ll also find a replay of a podcast discussion on rural healthcare innovation with Senior Vice President of Microsoft Health Jim Weinstein. CONFERENCE

Can AI tools do more than streamline workflows—can they actually help us think better? That’s the driving question behind the Microsoft Research

[THEME MUSIC FADES] The passage I read at the top there is from Chapter 5, “The AI-Augmented Patient,” which Carey wrote.   People have forever turned to the internet and sites like WebMD, Healthline, and so on to find health information and advice. So it wouldn’t be too surprising to witness a significant portion of people refocus those efforts around tools and apps powered by generative AI. Indeed, when we look at our search and advertising businesses here at Microsoft, we […]

The Semantic Telemetry Project aims to better understand complex, turn-based human-AI  

The ongoing proliferation of AI coding tools is not only boosting developers’ efficiency, it also signals a future where AI will generate a growing share of all new code.

In this issue: We introduce a new dataset designed to assist renewable energy infrastructure planners, a new method for denoising MRI imagery, and an AI tool for analyzing distant galaxies. Check out our latest research and other updates.  NEW RESEARCH Global Renewables Watch: A Temporal Dataset of Solar and Wind Energy Derived from Satellite Imagery

[THEME MUSIC FADES]  The passage I read at the top there is from Chapter 7 of the book, “The Ultimate Paperwork Shredder.”   Paperwork plays a particularly important role in healthcare. It helps convey treatment information that supports patient care, and it’s also used to help demonstrate that providers are meeting regulatory responsibilities, among other things. But if we’re being honest, it’s taxing—for everyone—and it’s a big contributor to the burnout our clinicians are experiencing today. Carey, Zak, and I identified […]