Microsoft AI chief Harry Shum is leaving after 23 years at the Redmond, Wash. Shum, the executive vice president in charge of Microsoft's AI and Research Group, will depart in Feb. 1, 2020, a Microsoft spokesperson confirmed Wednesday. Microsoft CTO Kevin Scott will take over Shum's responsibilities while maintaining his previous work. The change is effective immediately. Shum, who also led Microsoft Research, will continue advising Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella and co-founder Bill Gates, but it's unclear what else is on the horizon for Shum.

Microsoft is losing a key executive who helped the Redmond-based company turn artificial intelligence research into products just as its AI business is getting off the ground. Harry Shum, who runs Microsoft's AI and Research group, is leaving in February after 23 years at Microsoft. He has already shifted his group and responsibilities to Microsoft Chief Technology Officer Kevin Scott, which include overseeing the company's AI strategy, research and development on infrastructure, services, and apps, and AI-focused product groups including Bing. The news was first reported by ZDNet's Mary Jo Foley, and confirmed by Microsoft to Business Insider. Shum's departure comes at a time when Microsoft is making big investments in AI.

Microsoft has so far released its artificial intelligence technologies largely through its well-known software platforms, such as the Cortana voice assistant on Windows 10, automated language translation in Microsoft Office, and AI-powered speech, vision, search and language technologies for developers on Microsoft Azure. Artificial intelligence specialists at the company are now working closely with its devices group, said Harry Shum, the executive vice president of Microsoft's AI and Research group, in a broader interview with GeekWire about the next phase of the company's AI initiatives. Without giving details, Shum said he expects some "very, very exciting devices" to result from the work by the company's AI engineers and devices group. Shum mentioned this as an aside, not to get the gadget blogs buzzing but to underscore the scope of what Microsoft is trying to do. As part of the massive engineering reorganization announced by CEO Satya Nadella last week, the company is attempting to bring artificial intelligence into everything it does.

Microsoft's first mission statement envisioned a computer on every desk and in every home, but Bill Gates also had another goal: that computers would someday be able to see, hear, communicate and understand humans and their environment. More than 25 years and two CEOs later, Microsoft is betting its future on it. "We truly believe AI is this disruptive force, even though it's not new," said Harry Shum, the executive vice president in charge of Microsoft's AI and Research group, in an interview with GeekWire. "The recent progress is just enormous. We certainly have seen that through our own products and engagement with customers. We also feel we have a very strong point of view about how we take AI to the next step."

Microsoft is betting on artificial intelligence (AI) with the creation at the end of September of a new AI and Research Group. This newly formed group brings together Microsoft's research organization and more than 5,000 computer scientists and engineers focused on AI and is now the fourth major division in the company, on par with the Windows, Office and Cloud divisions. Harnessing AI through agents such as Cortana, the company's digital personal assistant Infusing AI into Skype, Office 365 and every other Microsoft application Making cognitive capabilities such as vision and speech and machine analytics available to external developers Using Azure to build a powerful AI supercomputer in the cloud to provide "AI as a Service" Using Azure to build a powerful AI supercomputer in the cloud to provide "AI as a Service" When Microsoft talks of "infusing" every application with AI, it's reminiscent of the famous "Internet Tidal Wave" email Bill Gates sent to all staff in 1995. In it, Gates outlined his desire to focus the company's efforts on the internet with immediate effect and told them to "assign the internet the highest level of importance" in everything that they did henceforth. Is the creation of the AI and research group effectively a "tidal wave" message?

Microsoft is betting on artificial intelligence (AI) with the creation at the end of September of a new AI and Research Group. This newly formed group brings together Microsoft's research organization and more than 5,000 computer scientists and engineers focused on AI and is now the fourth major division in the company, on par with the Windows, Office and Cloud divisions. When Microsoft talks of "infusing" every application with AI, it's reminiscent of the famous "Internet Tidal Wave" email Bill Gates sent to all staff in 1995. In it, Gates outlined his desire to focus the company's efforts on the internet with immediate effect and told them to "assign the internet the highest level of importance" in everything that they did henceforth. Is the creation of the AI and research group effectively a "tidal wave" message?

After Microsoft announced Microsoft Bot Framework at BUILD and Facebook announced Bots for Messenger, Google is turning Google Now into a chatbot with Google Assistant. Unlike Cortana, Google Assistant suggests topics for users to interact with suggests follow-up topics to continue the conversation. It also keeps a running tally of the conversation, allowing a user to scroll back and continue it from an earlier point in the conversation. Expectedly, Google Assistant will replace Google Now for Android. According to Harry Shum, the Executive Vice President at Microsoft in charge of the new AI and Research Group, Cortana was originally designed to quickly interact with the user, then get out of the way.

Recently, Microsoft took the unusual step of placing its Cortana and Bing product teams inside the same organization as Microsoft Research. The new Microsoft AI and Research Group will be led by computer vision pioneer and executive vice president Harry Shum, whose 20-year Microsoft career involves leading Bing's search efforts from 2007 through 2013 and helping launch Microsoft Research China. We asked Shum how this new organization will benefit Microsoft's digital assistant in the following interview, which has been edited for length and clarity. The language of the blog post announcing the formation of Microsoft's new AI division, together with how Satya Nadella has characterized it, suggests that Microsoft thinks it's in a space race of sorts when it comes to artificial intelligence. I just feel that the timing's right to go big on AI.

Last week, Microsoft took the unusual step of placing its Cortana and Bing product teams inside the same organization as Microsoft Research. The new Microsoft AI and Research Group will be led by computer vision pioneer and executive vice president Harry Shum, whose 20-year Microsoft career involves leading Bing's search efforts from 2007 through 2013 and helping launch Microsoft Research China. We asked Shum how this new organization will benefit Microsoft's digital assistant in the following interview, which has been edited for length and clarity. The language of the blog post announcing the formation of Microsoft's new AI division, together with how Satya Nadella has characterized it, suggests that Microsoft thinks it's in a space race of sorts when it comes to artificial intelligence. I just feel that the timing's right to go big on AI.

Last week, Microsoft took the unusual step of placing its Cortana and Bing product teams inside the same organization as Microsoft Research. The new Microsoft AI and Research Group will be led by computer vision pioneer and executive vice president Harry Shum, whose 20-year Microsoft career involves leading Bing's search efforts from 2007 through 2013 and helping launch Microsoft Research China. We asked Shum how this new organization will benefit Microsoft's digital assistant in the following interview, which has been edited for length and clarity. The language of the blog post announcing the formation of Microsoft's new AI division, together with how Satya Nadella has characterized it, suggests that Microsoft thinks it's in a space race of sorts when it comes to artificial intelligence. I just feel that the timing's right to go big on AI.