Internal email: Microsoft forms new 5,000-person AI division; key exec Qi Lu leaving after bike injury

Microsoft says it has formed a new 5,000-person engineering and research team to focus on its artificial intelligence products -- a major reshaping of the company's internal structure reminiscent of its massive pivot to pursue the opportunity of the Internet in the mid-1990s. "We are on the cusp of a paradigm shift in computing that is unlike anything we have seen in decades," said Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella in an internal email to employees this morning, the text of which was obtained by GeekWire. The company also confirmed internally this morning that eight-year Microsoft veteran Qi Lu, the top executive in charge of Office, Bing and related products, will be leaving the company "to focus all his time on recovering from health conditions caused by a prior injury," according to Nadella's email. Recode reports that Lu was in a bicycle accident several months ago. The new Microsoft AI and Research Group, to be led by Microsoft Research chief Harry Shum, establishes a fourth engineering division inside the company, along with the Office, Windows and cloud groups.