Microsoft organized a division to study the effects of AI

Microsoft announced the creation of the new Advanced Planning Unit (APU) unit. It will become part of the Microsoft AI unit and will help the company understand the social, medical and labor consequences of the influence of artificial intelligence, which the company expects to create ultimately.

The development of AI is the basis of the growth strategy for Microsoft, which some shareholders of the software giant do not like. This week, Microsoft announced that the capital costs in the fourth quarter of 2024 amounted to $ 22.6 billion, which is a new record.

Microsoft CEO, Satya Nadella, said that these expenses are due to the need to satisfy the demand for AI and the company’s cloud products. “As artificial intelligence is becoming more effective and affordable, the demand will grow in geometric progression,” Valla said during the results of the fourth quarter of 2024.

The new APU unit will obey the head of Microsoft AI Mustafa Suleyman. One of the tasks of APU employees will be a combination of the results of “advanced research” in order to “study and formulate” possible scenarios of the influence of the future AI. The duties of the unit include the development of recommendations for AI products and forecasting the results of their launch, as well as the preparation of a permanent program of events, publications and other reports to improve understanding of the effects of AI.

Some members of the APU will be responsible for holding briefings with the participation of products on products, developers and managers of Microsoft, while others will organize conferences and drawing up documents for communications. All of them will work in Microsoft AI offices in Silicon Valley and London. Mustafa Suleiman recently wrote on the social network X that the APU needs economists, psychologists “and not only.” “We are looking for [people] who can cover this hyperevolutionary space and let us understand what is happening and why this is important. These roles are an incredible, rare opportunity to immerse yourself in the world and think about it with fantasy, working at the front edge of the science of AI and the development of products, ”said Suleiman.

The creation of APU occurred shortly after Microsoft organized a team of Coreai engineers – Platform and Tools, focused on artificial intelligence. Against this background, Satya Valel said that this year will become a key stage in the development of AI platforms and “change all categories of applications”. “At the beginning of the new year, it becomes clear that we are entering the next stage of the change of AI platform. Thirty years of change are compressed at three years old, ”added Nadella.