HONGXIA HAO: Nice to be here. BING LV: Nice to be here, too. HUIZINGA: So Hongxia, let’s start with you and a brief overview of this paper. In just a few sentences. Tell us about the problem your research addresses and more importantly, why we should care about it. HAO: Let me start with a very simple yet profound question. What’s the fastest the heat can travel through a solid material? This is not just an academic curiosity, but it’s […]

In this issue: New research on compound AI systems and causal verification of the Confidential Consortium Framework; release of Phi-4-reasoning; enriching tabular data with semantic structure, and more. NEW RESEARCH Towards Resource-Efficient Compound AI Systems

The pursuit of nuclear fusion as a limitless, clean energy source has long been one of humanity’s most ambitious scientific goals. Research labs and companies worldwide are working to replicate the fusion process that occurs at the sun’s core, where isotopes of hydrogen combine to form helium, releasing vast amounts of energy. While scalable fusion energy is still years away, researchers are now exploring how AI can help accelerate fusion research  

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 […]