Microsoft AI was launched last month, with DeepMind and Inflection co-founder Mustafa Suleyman leading the new organisation as its inaugural CEO.
Following that news, Suleyman has revealed in a blog post on Microsoft’s website that he will open an AI hub in London, that will aim to advance language models and their supporting infrastructure in partnership with AI teams across Microsoft and partnering companies including Open AI.
Jordan Hoffmann, Suleyman’s former colleague at Inflection and DeepMind will lead the new effort. Hoffmann will be joined by Microsoft AI team members based in its London Paddington office.
“There is an enormous pool of AI talent and expertise in the U.K., and Microsoft AI plans to make a significant, long-term investment in the region as we begin hiring the best AI scientists and engineers into this new AI hub,” Suleyman said.
Microsoft’s commitment to opening the AI hub in London comes as Suleyman praised the UK for its forward thinking attitude towards AI. Touting his experience with thought leaders in UK government, businesses and acadamia while building his London-based AI empire, Suleyman said the country is committed to advancing AI responsibly and with a safety-first commitment to drive investment, innovation and economic growth.
Microsoft already has AI research projects ongoing in the UK, including at its Cambridge Research lab.
It has also announced a £2.5 billion investment to upskill the UK workforce for the AI era and to build the infrastructure to power the AI economy.
This infrastructure includes a commitment to bring 20,000 of the most advanced GPUs to the country by 2026.
"“Without consideration for tech team diversity AI innovations have the potential to be biased and flawed. Microsoft must assemble a diverse team at its new London hub to avoid history repeating itself,” Becs Roycroft, vice president of global emerging talent and client operations at Wiley Edge, commented on the announcement, referring to Microsoft's PR nightmare with its Tay AI bot.
Tay AI presented misogynist and racist outcomes after using social media content for its programming.
"Examples of inaccurate and biased outcomes are concerningly widespread, and something that must be avoided if the UK is to make itself a centre of excellence for AI. These prejudices can arise due to in-built human bias that exists in the datasets and people that have created them. Therefore, a representative tech team that brings broader thinking and insights to development will be key to reducing bias and improving the technology going forward," Roycroft continued.
