Microsoft Research Cambridge
News & features
Project Silica’s advances in glass storage technology
| Richard Black
Project Silica introduces new techniques for encoding data in borosilicate glass, as described in the journal Nature. These advances lower media cost and simplify writing and reading systems while supporting 10,000-year data preservation.
Rethinking imitation learning with Predictive Inverse Dynamics Models
| Pallavi Choudhury, Lukas Schäfer, Chris Lovett, Katja Hofmann, and Sergio Valcarcel Macua
This research looks at why Predictive Inverse Dynamics Models often outperform standard Behavior Cloning in imitation learning. By using simple predictions of what happens next, PIDMs reduce ambiguity and learn from far fewer demonstrations.
Promptions helps make AI prompting more precise with dynamic UI controls
| Sean Rintel, Advait Sarkar, Jack Williams, Nicholas Wilson, Richard Banks, Neeltje Berger, Philipp Steinacher, Payod Panda, and Ian Drosos
Promptions helps developers add dynamic, context-aware controls to chat interfaces so users can guide generative AI responses. It lets users shape outputs quickly without writing long instructions.
Awards | Optica
Francesca Parmigiani elected as a 2026 Optica Fellow
Fellows are Optica members who have served with distinction in the advancement of optics and photonics. Francesca was elected for her pioneering contributions to the field of high-speed optical communications and optical signal processing.
In the news | Forward Future
Future Forward Live – AOC, Part 1
Francesca Parmigiani, Principal Research Manager at Microsoft Research Cambridge (@MSFTResearch), on the moment her team realized they were onto something big. “We ran a small version of these banking problems on the actual hardware and saw great accuracy. That was…
In the news | Forward Future
Future Forward Live – AOC, Part 2
What does an analog optical computer do? Francesca Parmigiani, Principal Research Manager at Microsoft Research Cambridge (@Microsoft), has the answer. “When you start learning a new programming language, you begin with a ‘Hello World.’ For us, that meant recognizing handwritten…
In the news | IBM Think
Computing with light offers two paths forward for AI
Light is edging into roles once reserved for electricity in computing. As researchers race to ease the growing energy and performance strain that AI puts on data centers, some are experimenting with using photons instead of electrons to process information, an…
In the news | Microsoft Source
Microsoft’s analog optical computer cracks two practical problems and shows AI promise
A small Microsoft Research team had lofty goals when it set out four years ago to create an analog optical computer that would use light as a medium for solving complex problems. From the beginning, they wanted to build it using…
In the news | Microsoft Build 2025
Inside Azure innovations with Mark Russinovich
Join Mark Russinovich, CTO, Deputy CISO, Technical Fellow of Microsoft Azure. Mark will take you on a tour of the latest innovations in Azure architecture and explain how Azure enables intelligent, modern, and innovative applications at scale in the cloud,…