Microsoft Responsible AI
Principles and approach
We're committed to developing AI systems in a way that is transparent, reliable, and worthy of trust.
Principles
Defining what’s important
We've identified six principles that we believe should guide AI development and use.
Fairness
AI systems should treat all people fairly.
How might an AI system allocate opportunities, resources, and information in ways that are fair to the humans who use it?
How might an AI system allocate opportunities, resources, and information in ways that are fair to the humans who use it?
Reliability and safety
AI systems should perform reliably and safely.
How might a system function well for people across different use conditions and contexts, including ones that it wasn’t originally intended for?
How might a system function well for people across different use conditions and contexts, including ones that it wasn’t originally intended for?
Privacy and security
AI systems should be secure and respect privacy.
How might a system be designed to support privacy and security?
How might a system be designed to support privacy and security?
Inclusiveness
AI systems should empower everyone and engage all people, regardless of their backgrounds.
How might a system be designed to be inclusive for people of all abilities?
Transparency
AI systems should be understandable.
How can we ensure that people correctly understand the capabilities of a system?
How can we ensure that people correctly understand the capabilities of a system?
Accountability
People should be accountable for AI systems.
How can we create oversight so that humans can be accountable and in control?
The Microsoft Responsible AI Standard
Explore guidance from Microsoft on how to design, build, and test AI systems.
Case Studies
Responsible AI in practice: Case studies from the 2026 RAI Transparency Report
Explore how Microsoft applies responsible AI practices across real-world systems—demonstrated through case studies grounded in the NIST Risk Management Framework and our AI principles.
- In fall 2025, Microsoft released memory in Foundry Agent Service, allowing developers to create and manage long-term memory for their agents. This case study shows how the team mapped, measured, and managed risks of Foundry Agent Service to ensure its safe release.
- Memory in Microsoft 365 Copilot enables the AI assistant to retain information about users across conversations to provide contextually relevant responses. This case highlights how the team navigated the Sensitive Use review process to develop and deploy capabilities like memory safely with high standards of privacy and security.
- Fara-7B is Microsoft’s first agentic small language model for computer use. This case highlights responsible AI governance at the model level, including evaluation, testing, and mitigation strategies before release.
- This case illustrates how Browse with Copilot, a feature enabling AI to perform web-based tasks, was developed responsibly by mapping prompt injection and privacy risks, red teaming realistic attacks, adding layered mitigations, and launching through preview with user controls and feedback loops.
TRANSPARENCY REPORT
Responsible AI Transparency Report
Microsoft is evolving and scaling responsible AI governance. Explore the 2026 report to learn how Microsoft is:
- Building trust at scale
- Meeting the agentic moment
- Lessons from deploying AI
- Investing in standards and tools
Transparency documents
Transparency documents
Understand how our AI technology works, so you can create a system that fits your needs.
Anomaly Detector
Analyze time series data using timestamps and numerical metrics to receive the anomalous status of each data point along with contributing variables.
Azure AI Content Safety
Detect harmful content in apps and services using text, image, and multimodal APIs—plus, use custom categories for tailored content moderation needs.
Azure AI Face service
Enhance efficiency, security, and customer experiences with systems that analyze people’s faces.
Azure AI Search
Get AI-enhanced tools, APIs, and SDKs for building rich search experiences for diverse content in web, mobile, and enterprise apps.
Azure Language in Foundry Tools
Azure AI Language in Foundry Tools is a cloud-based service that provides Natural Language Processing (NLP) features for text mining and text analysis.
Azure OpenAI
Use OpenAI models to generate natural language, code, and images. Integrated content filtering and abuse detection is included.
Azure Video Indexer
Analyze video and audio files with AI to generate insights like detected objects, faces, and transcriptions in more than 60 languages.
Click to Do
A Windows feature that provides intelligent shortcuts to consumers so they can quickly complete a task based on what they are viewing.
Frequently asked questions
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AI principles are guidelines designed to ensure the responsible development and deployment of AI technologies. These principles are crucial because they help mitigate risks, promote ethical practices, and maximize the benefits of AI for society.
The Responsible AI Standard at Microsoft consolidates essential practices to ensure compliance with emerging AI laws and regulations.
- Microsoft offers a range of tools and practices to help organizations practice responsible AI.
Additionally, the Responsible AI Standard at Microsoft helps define product development requirements for responsible AI. - Transparency Notes are created to help customers better understand the inner workings of AI technologies and make more informed decisions about their use. They are part of the Responsible AI Standard and are intended to support responsible AI development by providing insights into how AI systems are governed, mapped, measured, and managed.
Microsoft also offers the Responsible AI Transparency Report, which provides insights into how Microsoft builds apps with generative AI, oversees the deployment of those apps, supports customers as they build their own AI apps, and fosters a responsible AI community.
Discover more
AI policy and regulation
Discover the latest perspectives on AI policy from Microsoft experts.
Accelerate business growth with trustworthy AI
Learn how to accelerate AI adoption, reduce risk, and strengthen customer confidence by using AI responsibly and securely.
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