Microsoft creates a new division to research the impacts of artificial intelligence.

Microsoft has announced the creation of a new unit called the Advanced Planning Unit (APU) within its Microsoft AI division. This new unit aims to analyze the social, health, and labor implications of the artificial intelligence that the company is developing. Microsoft AI, which includes products such as Copilot, Bing, and Edge, has become a key component of the company’s growth strategy, raising some concerns among shareholders.

Last week, Microsoft reported that its capital expenditure for the fourth quarter of 2024 reached $22.6 billion, a historic record. CEO Satya Nadella emphasized that this investment is essential to meet the demand for the company's artificial intelligence and cloud offerings. According to Nadella, "as AI becomes more efficient and accessible, we will see exponentially greater demand."

The APU will operate under the direction of Mustafa Suleyman, CEO of Microsoft AI, and will focus on advanced research to explore different future scenarios for AI. Additionally, the unit will be responsible for making product recommendations and suggesting planning outcomes, as well as generating a continuous program of events, publications, and reports aimed at enhancing the understanding of AI.

Members of the APU will have various responsibilities, including writing reports that will be distributed among product managers, developers, and executive teams, while others will assist in organizing conferences and drafting communication documents. The unit will operate from Microsoft AI offices in Silicon Valley and London.

Suleyman, through his posts on X, mentioned that the APU aims to incorporate economists, psychologists, and professionals from emerging fields such as quantum and nuclear physics and silicon technology. "We are looking for people who capture this space of hyper-evolution and inform us about what is happening and why it matters," he stated. He also raised questions about how AI will transform patterns of work, life, connection, creation, and play, as well as what could guide this development in the right direction.

The creation of the APU comes shortly after Microsoft established a new internal organization focused on AI development called CoreAI, which combines existing developer divisions and AI platform teams. In a statement earlier this January, Nadella indicated that Microsoft's focus for the coming year will be on "model-oriented AI" applications that transform all categories of applications.

This restructuring effort is not exclusive to Microsoft; OpenAI, its close collaborator, is also making significant changes. Recently, OpenAI appointed its first chief economist to lead research on how AI could affect economic growth and job prospects. A recent study from the Brookings Institute indicates that existing generative AI could disrupt at least half of the tasks performed routinely by more than 30% of workers, warning about the lack of preparedness for the risks and opportunities that this technology could bring.