Microsoft is opening an AI hub in London.
The news follows the creation of Microsoft AI, the vendor’s new arm that intends to progress its AI products and research, including its flagship Copilot service.
AI scientist Jordan Hoffmann, formerly of AI organisations Deepmind and Inflection, will lead the new AI hub and will be joined by a group of Microsoft AI team members based in its London Paddington office.
Mustafa Suleyman, EVP and CEO of Microsoft AI, wrote in the announcement blog:
I’m thrilled to share that Microsoft AI is opening a new AI hub in the heart of London. Microsoft AI London will drive pioneering work to advance state-of-the-art language models and their supporting infrastructure and to create world-class tooling for foundation models, collaborating closely with our AI teams across Microsoft and with our partners, including OpenAI.”
Microsoft plans to capitalise on the significant pool of AI scientists and engineers in the UK, intending to make long-term investments in the region. Suleyman stated that job openings will be posted in the following weeks and months, offering opportunities to work on cutting-edge AI challenges.
“This is great news for Microsoft AI and for the UK,” Suleyman added. “As a British citizen, born and raised in London, I’m proud to have co-founded and built a cutting-edge AI business here. I’m deeply aware of the extraordinary talent pool and AI ecosystem in the UK, and I’m excited to make this commitment to the UK on behalf of Microsoft AI.”
The new Microsoft AI London hub complements the company’s existing presence in the UK, including the Microsoft Research Cambridge lab, which is known for pioneering AI, cloud, and productivity research. It aligns with Microsoft’s £2.5 billion investment to upskill the UK workforce for the AI era and develop the necessary infrastructure for the AI economy, including plans to deploy 20,000 advanced GPUs by 2026.
Suleyman’s Significant Appointment as Microsoft AI CEO
Suleyman took the helm as Microsoft AI’s CEO last month.
Suleyman oversees Microsoft’s consumer and business-centric AI products and services, encompassing Copilot, Bing, and Edge. As a Microsoft Executive Vice President (EVP), Suleyman will join Microsoft’s senior leadership team and report directly to Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella.
Microsoft hired Suleyman and recruited several of Inflection AI’s employees, including Hoffman and co-founder Karén Simonyan. Nadella described Simonyan as “a renowned AI researcher and thought leader” and will serve as the chief scientist of Microsoft AI.
A Momentous April for AI So Far
It’s been a significant month so far for AI.
Last week, the UK and US governments formally agreed to collaborate on AI safety and research.
The partnership, signed by US Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo and UK Technology Secretary Michelle Donelan, entails both nations aligning their scientific approaches to accelerate and iterate robust evaluations of AI models, systems, and agents.
Confirmed as a memorandum of understanding, signed on Monday, April 1, this groundbreaking agreement builds upon the foundations of the UK AI Summit, held in November.
The US and UK AI Safety Institutes aim to create a unified strategy for AI safety testing and share capabilities to manage emerging risks effectively. They plan to conduct joint testing on public AI models and explore personnel exchanges to tap into a combined pool of expertise.
Last week, Cisco, along with Accenture, Eightfold, Google, IBM, Indeed, Intel, Microsoft, and SAP, launched the AI-Enabled ICT Workforce Consortium. This collaborative effort aims to assess AI’s impact on technology jobs and produce skill development pathways for roles vulnerable to AI.
“AI is accelerating the pace of change for the global workforce, presenting a powerful opportunity for the private sector to help upskill and reskill workers for the future,” said Francine Katsoudas, Executive Vice President and Chief People, Policy & Purpose Officer at Cisco. “The mission of our newly unveiled AI-Enabled Workforce Consortium is to provide organisations with knowledge about the impact of AI on the workforce and equip workers with relevant skills.”
The AI-Enabled ICT Workforce Consortium strives to meet the pressing demand for AI-skilled workers across business sectors. By leveraging its members and advisors, the Consortium aims to advocate for inclusive reskilling and upskilling programs targeting diverse stakeholders, from students to IT professionals and employers.
These efforts are geared towards expanding workforce capabilities for the AI era and promoting broad adoption of AI technologies.
