5 major announcements of Microsoft on artificial intelligence

July 12 in London, Microsoft held an event dedicated to artificial intelligence. Speakers, including: Harry Shum, Executive Vice President, Research and Technology, Microsoft; Eric Horwitz, Managing Director of Microsoft Research; Emma Williams, head of Bing; As well as Chris Bishop, director of the laboratory at Microsoft Research Cambridge, - discussed the interaction of AI with people and society, as well as the role and responsibility of Microsoft in this field.

 

 

During the event, we announced the following:

 

  • Creation of the MSR AI Center: we introduced Microsoft Research AI, a new research hub inside Microsoft, which will be aimed at solving the most difficult problems in the field of AI. The new team will develop innovations in theory and practice, invest in institutions engaged in computing in the field of AI, as well as projects that can make these technologies more accessible to people and organizations. The team will be located in Redmond, Washington, and will work closely with colleagues from other Microsoft Research labs and product groups.
  • Guide to the ethics of AI: we attach special importance to the company's desire to make AI more accessible and open to all. This goal will be achieved with the help of new development principles, as well as ethical design guidelines. These are internal documents created as benefits for all those involved in the development or research in the field of artificial intelligence. We emphasize the importance of creating an ethical artificial intelligence that combines the intellect and the ability to understand emotions, helping people to be more creative and innovative.
  • AI for Earth Initiative: we presented a new initiative for Microsoft AI for Earth, which aims to give people and organizations the opportunity to fight global environmental problems and promote innovation through tools based on artificial intelligence technologies And educational opportunities. Our goal is ambitious, but simple - we want to provide our advanced AI tools to researchers and organizations to provide a better, healthier and eco-sustainable future for the entire planet. We invest more than $ 2 million in grants, educational opportunities, and project organization over the next year to launch this important program.
  • Seeing AI: we released Seeing AI as a free iOS application that analyzes the environment and reproduces the audio description of nearby objects and people. This decision, which we continue to improve, will help blind and visually impaired people to more fully perceive the world around. Seeing AI demonstrates how technology can make the world more open and inclusive for all. Seeing AI for iOS is available for download in the American
  • Updates of the Microsoft Cognitive Services package: a new element of the Bing Search API, the public availability of the preliminary version of the Gestures SDK development kit, the availability of Presentation Translator: we announced updates to cognitive services as part of our commitment to make AI available to everyone. More about each of them:
  1.   The Bing Search API element: Search API is a new tool in the Microsoft Cognitive Services package, available free of charge in the test mode. Read more http://aka.ms/csbingentity/.
  2.    Project Prague: Project Prague, a set for the developers of gesture recognition, is now available at the Cognitive Services Lab. This cognitive service will allow the developer to integrate gesture control algorithms into their applications. With the SDK, developers can quickly create and implement custom gestures, providing a more natural user experience.
  3.    Presentation Translator: we announced the availability of the Presentation Translator tool, which was first introduced at the Build 2017. Presentation Translator is an extension for PowerPoint that allows the presenter to automatically add subtitles in the presentation, both in the language used for greater visibility, and in translation into 60+ languages of the world.The participants of the presentation can read the subtitles in the chosen language from their devices using the Microsoft Translator application, on the site http://translate.it, or (optionally) translate the slides while preserving their formatting. Presentation Translator is available for download here http://www.aka.ms/TranslatorPowerPoint.

More information about the announcements and partnerships presented within the framework of the AI Event can be found at Microsoft's global press center.