Microsoft lays off ethical AI team

Recent Microsoft lays off that affected 10,000 employees also included the ethics and society team within the artificial intelligence division.

Microsoft continues investing billions of dollars in the OpenAI partnership to revamp its Bing search engine and Edge Browser.

The layoffs of the AI team have been raising questions as the company is heavily investing in the same field. As per Platformer, the laid-off team ‘played a critical role in ensuring that the company’s responsible AI principles are actually reflected in the design of the products that ship.

The team was also responsible for monitoring the current partnership with OpenAI.

As of now, Microsoft has retained its Office of Responsible AI (ORA), which is responsible for setting rules for AI through governance and public policy work.