Due to recent events, millions of office workers have needed to rapidly adjust to working from home—learning new collaboration tools and best practices, re-thinking how to stay connected with colleagues outside the office, and adapting to new social norms around meetings. Working remotely presents both…
One of the core aspirations in artificial intelligence is to develop algorithms and techniques that endow computers with an ability to synthesize the observed data in our world. Every time researchers build a model to imitate this ability, this model is called a generative model.…
Virtual reality (VR) is an incredibly exciting way to experience computing, providing users with intuitive and immersive means of interacting with information that attempts to mirror the way we naturally experience the world around us. In the past few years, powerful VR systems have dropped…
Consider the last time you struggled to complete a task at work. Perhaps you got stuck trying to solve a tricky problem, unable to break out of that unproductive state, or maybe you were so engrossed in an activity unrelated to work that you ignored…
Image descriptions are vital to making digital content fully accessible to people who are blind or have low vision. However, as past research has shown, content authors often leave out these descriptions—also known as “alternative text” or “alt text”—for images on the web and on…
According to a report released by World Bank and the World Health Organization in 2017, there are nearly 4 billion people worldwide, that’s half of the world population, who lack access to essential healthcare. Although delivering high-quality patient-centered care is at the heart of good…
Virtual reality technology has become popular in recent years thanks to the availability of more affordable systems. Today, we can put on a head-mounted display and find ourselves in a completely different world, a virtual one in which the more we explore, the more new…
Increases in the occurrence and global effect of mental illness have made the prevention and treatment of mental health problems a public health priority. To address the need for more access to mental health treatment, digital psychotherapy programs, such as internet-delivered Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (iCBT),…
For developers, writing bug-free software that doesn’t crash is getting difficult in an increasingly competitive world where software needs to ship before it becomes obsolete. This challenge is especially apparent with online cloud services, which are often dictated by aggressive shipping deadlines. Cloud services are…
Humans subconsciously use perception-action loops to do just about everything, from walking down a crowded sidewalk to scoring a goal in a community soccer league. Perception-action loops—using sensory input to decide on appropriate action in a continuous real time loop —are at the heart of…
In September last year, the Microsoft AI Residency program graduated its first class. The second class is already settled in and undertaking an exciting range of projects, and recruitment for the third class is underway! The AI Residency program is a 12-month program for early-…
If you haven't ever been in a casino, you may have found yourself asking one very pertinent question: On which slot machine am I going to hit the jackpot? Standing in front of a bank of identical-looking machines, you have only instinct to go on.…
