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Microsoft Research Forum

Join us for a continuous exchange of ideas about science and technology research in the era of general AI. This series explores recent advances, bold new ideas, and important discussions with the global research community.


Episode 4 sessions

Aired: September 3, 2024

Learn about Microsoft’s research initiatives at the frontiers of multimodal AI. Discover novel models, benchmarks, and infrastructure for self-improvement, agents, weather prediction, and more.

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Keynote
Phi-3-Vision: A highly capable and cost-effective “small” language vision model

Jianfeng Gao,

Distinguished Scientist and Vice President, Microsoft Research Redmond


This talk introduced Phi-3-Vision, an advanced and economical open-source multimodal model. As a member of the Phi-3 model family, Phi-3-Vision enhances language models by integrating multi-sensory skills, seamlessly combining language and vision capabilities.

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Panel Discussion
Beyond Language: The Future of Multimodal Models in Healthcare, Gaming, and AI

Katja Hofmann,
Senior Principal Researcher, Microsoft Research Cambridge
Jianwei Yang,
Principal Researcher, Microsoft Research Redmond
Hoifung Poon,
General Manager, Microsoft Research Health Futures
John Langford (host),
Partner Research Manager, Microsoft Research AI Frontiers


This panel discussion explored the transformative potential of multimodal models across various domains, including precision health, game intelligence, and foundational models, addressing the challenges and opportunities in integrating diverse data sources for innovative solutions. They delve into the importance of multimodal models, the core challenges faced by researchers, and the future directions for bridging gaps and fostering synergies within the field.

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Talk
Analog optical computing for sustainable AI and beyond

Jiaqi Chu,
Principal Researcher, Microsoft Research Cambridge
Francesca Parmigiani,
Principal Research Manager, Microsoft Research Cambridge


This talk discussed a new kind of computer – an analog optical computer – that has the potential to accelerate AI inference and hard optimization workloads by 100x, leveraging hardware-software co-design to improve the efficiency and sustainability of real-world applications.

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Talk
Direct Nash Optimization: Teaching Language Models to Self-Improve with General Preferences

Corby Rosset,
Senior Researcher, Microsoft Research AI Frontiers


This talk discussed teaching language models to self-improve using a preference oracle like GPT-4, framing it as a two-player game to find an optimal policy at a Nash equilibrium, and achieving state-of-the-art win rates against GPT-4 Turbo on benchmarks such as Alpaca-Eval and MT-Bench.

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Talk
Project Aurora: The first large-scale foundation model of the atmosphere

Megan Stanley,
Senior Researcher, Microsoft Research AI for Science


This talk discussed Aurora, a cutting-edge foundation model that offers a new approach to weather forecasting that could transform our ability to predict and mitigate the impacts of extreme events, air pollution, and the changing climate.

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Talk
A Generative Model of Biology for In-Silico Experimentation and Discovery

Kevin Yang,
Senior Researcher, Microsoft Research New England


This talk discussed how deep learning is enabling us to generate novel and useful biomolecules, enabling researchers and practitioners to better understand biology.

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Talk
Fostering appropriate reliance on AI

Mihaela Vorvoreanu,
Director UX Research and Responsible AI Education, Microsoft Aether


This talk will address the probabilistic nature of AI systems and the challenge of fostering appropriate reliance in human-AI interactions. Discover how Microsoft's initiatives are empowering users to discern when to trust AI recommendations, ensuring accuracy and reliability in AI outputs.

Episode 3 sessions

Aired: June 4, 2024

Dive into the importance of globally inclusive and equitable AI, updates on AutoGen and MatterGen, explore novel new use cases for AI, and more.

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Keynote
Building Globally Equitable AI

Jacki O’Neill,

Lab Director, Microsoft Research Africa, Nairobi


In this keynote, Jacki O'Neill discussed the importance of creating globally equitable generative AI. She addressed the technical and socio-technical challenges that must be tackled to positively transform work futures worldwide.

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Panel Discussion
Generative AI for Global Impact: Challenges and Opportunities

Jacki O’Neill (Host),
Lab Director, Microsoft Research Africa, Nairobi
Sunayana Sitaram,
Principal Researcher, Microsoft Research India
Daniela Massiceti,
Senior Researcher, Microsoft Research Cambridge
Tanuja Ganu,
Principal Research SDE Manager, Microsoft Research India


In this panel discussion, Microsoft researchers discussed the challenges and opportunities of making AI more inclusive and impactful for everyone – from data that represents a broader range of communities and cultures, to novel use cases for AI that are globally relevant.

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Talk
Insights into the Challenges and Opportunities of Large Multi-Modal Models for Blind and Low Vision Users: A Case Study on CLIP

Daniela Massiceti,
Senior Researcher, Microsoft Research Cambridge


In this talk, Daniela Massiceti delved into the transformative potential of multi-modal models such as CLIP for assistive technologies. Specifically focusing on the blind/low vision community, the talk explored the current distance from realizing this potential and the advancements needed to bridge this gap.

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Talk
Driving Industry Evolution: Exploring the Impact of Generative AI on Sector Transformation

Jiang Bian,
Senior Principal Research Manager, Microsoft Research Asia


In this talk, Jiang Bian discussed how Generative AI transforms industries by bridging gaps between AI capabilities and sector needs. He showcased domain-specific foundation models and versatile AI agents, setting new industry standards.

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Talk
MatterGen: A generative model for materials design

Tian Xie,
Principal Research Manager, Microsoft Research


In this talk, Tian Xie introduced MatterGen, a generative model that creates new inorganic materials based on a broad range of property conditions required by the application, aiming to shift the traditional paradigm of materials design with generative AI.

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Talk
AutoGen update: Complex Tasks and Agents

Adam Fourney,
Principal Researcher, Microsoft Research AI Frontiers


In this talk, Adam Fourney discussed the effectiveness of using multiple agents, working together, to complete complex multi-step tasks. He showcased their capability to outperform previous single-agent solutions on benchmarks like GAIA, utilizing customizable arrangements of agents that collaborate, reason, and utilize tools to achieve complex outcomes.

Episode 2 sessions

Aired: March 5, 2024

Learn how AI is transforming health care and the natural sciences, the intersection of AI and society, what's new in AutoGen, and more.

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Keynote
The Revolution in Scientific Discovery

Chris Bishop,

Technical Fellow and Director, Microsoft Research AI for Science


Chris Bishop shared the vision for how AI for science will leverage AI to model and predict natural phenomena, including the exciting real-world progress being made by the team.

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Panel Discussion
Transforming the Natural Sciences with AI

Bonnie Kruft (Host),
Partner Deputy Director, Microsoft Research AI for Science
Rianne van den Berg,
Principal Research Manager, Microsoft Research AI for Science
Tian Xie,
Principal Research Manager, Microsoft Research AI for Science
Tristan Naumann,
Principal Researcher, Microsoft Research Health Futures
Kristen Severson,
Senior Researcher, Microsoft Research New England
Alex Lu,
Senior Researcher, Microsoft Research New England


Microsoft researchers shared their advancements in the fields of foundations models, drug discovery, material design and machine learning. They will highlight how deep learning is transforming the natural sciences.

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Talk
What's New in AutoGen?

Chi Wang,
Principal Researcher, Microsoft Research AI Frontiers


This talk discussed the latest updates on AutoGen – the multi-agent framework for next generation AI applications. This includes milestones achieved, community feedback, new exciting features, and ongoing research and challenges.

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Talk
The Metacognitive Demands and Opportunities of Generative AI

Lev Tankelevitch,
Senior Behavioral Science Researcher, Microsoft Research Cambridge


This talk explored how metacognition—the psychological capacity to monitor and regulate one's cognitive processes—provides a valuable perspective for comprehending and addressing the usability challenges of generative AI systems around prompting, assessing and relying on outputs, and workflow optimization.

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Talk
GigaPath: Foundation Model for Digital Pathology

Naoto Usuyama,
Principal Researcher, Microsoft Research Health Futures


This talk proposed GigaPath, a novel approach for training large vision transformers for gigapixel pathology images, utilizing a diverse real-world cancer patient dataset, with the goal of laying a foundation for cancer pathology AI.

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Talk
Getting Modular with Language Models: Building and Reusing a Library of Experts for Task Generalization

Alessandro Sordoni,
Principal Researcher, Microsoft Research Montreal


This talk shared recent efforts on building and re-using large collections of expert language models to improve zero-shot and few-shot generalization to unseen tasks.

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Talk
Generative AI and Plural Governance: Mitigating Challenges and Surfacing Opportunities

Madeleine Daepp,
Senior Researcher, Microsoft Research Redmond

Vanessa Gathecha,
Research & Policy Manager, Baraza Media Lab


This talk discussed the potential impacts and challenges of generative AI in a year with over 70 major global elections, with the aim of highlighting strategies to promote societal resilience to malign influence.

Episode 1 sessions

Aired: January 30, 2024

Recent breakthroughs in AI models, new applications of AI to important scientific challenges, improving reasoning in language models with LASER, and more.

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Keynote
Research in the Era of AI

Peter Lee,

CVP, Microsoft Research & Incubations


Peter Lee discussed how recent developments in AI have transformed the way Microsoft approaches research.

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Panel Discussion
AI Frontiers

Ece Kamar,
Managing Director, Microsoft Research AI Frontiers
Sebastien Bubeck,
Vice President, Microsoft GenAI
Ahmed Awadallah,
Senior Principal Research Manager, Microsoft Research AI Frontiers
Ashley Llorens (host),
CVP and Managing Director, Microsoft Research


Microsoft AI researchers discussed frontiers in small language models and where AI research and capabilities are headed next.

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Talk
Improving Reasoning in Language Models with LASER: Layer-Selective Rank Reduction

Dipendra Misra,
Senior Researcher, Microsoft Research AI Frontiers


Dipendra Misra presented a surprising discovery that by merely replacing selected weight matrices in an LLM with their suitable low-rank approximation, you can significantly improve the performance of the LLM, at times by 20-30 percentage points.

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Talk
Evaluation and Understanding of Foundation Models

Besmira Nushi,
Principal Researcher, Microsoft Research AI Frontiers


This talk discussed timely challenges and ongoing work on evaluating and in-depth understanding of large language foundation models as well as agent platforms built upon such models.

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Talk
Augmenting Human Cognition and Decision Making with AI

Jake Hofman,
Senior Principal Researcher, Microsoft Research NYC


This talk discussed recent reserach in buildng and evaluating AI tools for helping people make better decisions and improve their own capabilities.

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Talk
Generative AI meets Structural Biology: Equilibrium Distribution Prediction

Shuxin Zheng,
Principal Researcher, Microsoft Research AI for Science


Shuxin Zheng presented how his team uses Generative AI to solve a long-standing challenge in structural biology and molecular science - predicting equilibrium distribution for molecular systems.

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Talk
Kahani: Visual Storytelling through Culturally Nuanced Images

Sameer Segal,
Principal Research SDE, Microsoft Research India


This talk discussed Kahani, a research prototype that allows the user to create visually stunning and culturally nuanced images just by describing them in their local language.

More episodes to come in 2025

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