Microsoft has decided to invest heavily in artificial intelligence, as demonstrated by the launch of Bing Chat and Copilot. The Redmond company has now explained how ethics and privacy issues will be handled, despite the dismantling of the dedicated team.

350 people for responsible AI
Microsoft explains that responsible AI can be achieved through a series of steps that can ensure compliance with certain principles, including fairness, trustworthiness, privacy, security, inclusiveness and transparency. Natasha Crampton, Chief Responsible AI Officer, illustrated the three main areas that will allow us to achieve the goal.

First of all, the involvement of the leadership is foreseen. The Redmond company has envisaged the creation of the Responsible AI Council, chaired by Brad Smith (President of Microsoft) and Kevin Scott, Chief Technology Officer and head of the Microsoft Research division. The Office of Responsible AI team, led by Natasha Crampton, deals with the creation and application of governance models, i.e. the guidelines to be followed to achieve responsible AI.

Finally, the manager clarified the matter relating to the Ethics & Society team. Almost all members have been moved to other groups working on the design and development of AI systems and services. Only seven employees have been fired. Nearly 350 people are currently working on building responsible AI. New permanent hires and employee training refresher courses are expected in the coming months.