Microsoft combines Cortana and Bing with Microsoft AI and Research Group read more at here www.spinonews.com/index.php/item/1070-microsoft-combines-cortana-and-bing-with-microsoft-ai-and-research-group

Microsoft combining its Bing and Cortana product teams with Microsoft Research and artificial intelligence to accelerate innovation for both the search engine and the digital assistant.

Microsoft Corp. announced on Thursday it has formed the Microsoft AI and Research Group, bringing together Microsoft’s world-class research organization with more than 5,000 computer scientists and engineers focused on the company’s AI product efforts. It will be led by 20-year Microsoft veteran Harry Shum, who was previously the Executive Vice President of Technology and Research.

According to an e-mail from Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella leaked to Geekwire the reorganization will go further than creating this new AI and Research group.

Microsoft has been pushing more intelligent services. For consumers, these include Skype Translator, Cortana, and, rather less successfully, its Tay chatbot. And the Cortana Intelligence Suite for businesses and developers has provided the option to add machine learning, image recognition, and similar capabilities to various applications.

Placing Cortana and Bing within a research organization means that both of those groups will directly benefit from the proximity to researchers. Cortana is in a tight race with Apple’s Siri and Google Assistant. However, Microsoft does not intend to slow the addition of intelligent features to other products like Office or Azure.

Uber is a recent client of this: Uber using Microsoft's facial recognition service to ensure that drivers are using their own accounts, requiring them to take a selfie at the start of each session which is then compared to one on file.

 

With Bing now merging into the new AI and Research Group, the Application and Services Group is being renamed the Office Product Group. You can read full details here.