A top Microsoft executive told China.org.cn in an exclusive interview that they want to create reliable artificial intelligence (AI) to help humans. In addition, the company will be investing more to help fight the COVID-19 pandemic. 

"At Microsoft, we are committed to creating responsible AI and letting it help mankind," said Roan Kang, vice president of Microsoft China. "In this process, several issues are involved, including how we can ensure that AI treats everyone fairly, how we can ensure the safety and reliability of AI, how to enjoy the benefits of AI while protecting privacy, and as machines become smarter and more powerful, how we can avoid losing control to machines." 

In 2016, Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella publicly proposed Microsoft's AI guidelines for the first time. In 2017, the company published the book "The Future Computed: AI and Manufacturing" by Brad Smith, president and chief legal officer of Microsoft, and Harry Shum, executive vice president of Microsoft AI and Research Group. The book conducted a comprehensive and detailed discussion on the moral, legal, regulatory thinking and social impact that may be triggered during the development of AI. 

"Microsoft proposed the six principles of AI development: fairness, reliability and safety, privacy and security, inclusiveness, transparency, and accountability. In our development and application of AI, we always adhere to these six principles," Kang noted, adding, "At present, these principles have gained a broad consensus, which can direct enterprises and management institutions to guide and grasp the complexity of AI." 

On the COVID-19 fight 

According to Kang, at the beginning of the COVID-19 outbreak, Microsoft actively promoted global cooperation as a way to provide the greatest support for the fight against the pandemic. 

"The pandemic is a challenge facing all mankind," Kang said. In China, in addition to directly providing cash donations, products and services, Microsoft has also invested heavily in supporting companies and schools to restore normal production and teaching order. 

In the process of helping Chinese companies and institutions fight the pandemic, Microsoft noticed a very obvious change. Facing the impact of the pandemic and the new normal in the post-pandemic era, various trades and industries have been accelerating digital transformation simultaneously, and the hybrid remote-office model has become the new normal. 

"Remote conferencing and collaborative office applications have played an important and active role in remote teaching and working from home. In the first half of the year, for example, the number of active Microsoft Teams users increased by fivefold. In the third quarter of this year, the Microsoft 365 security business in China increased by 87% year-on-year, and 90% of new Microsoft Office users in the Chinese market chose Microsoft 365," he said. 

Kang said they have also realized that as the world grapples with the pandemic and its related impacts, companies must break through internal data barriers as quickly as possible to fully explore the hidden insights and intelligence in their business data, while comprehensively innovating and reshaping the business model and responding to challenges in a flexible and resilient way, so that they can "resume development and win the future." 

Faced with the potential challenges posed by market uncertainties, Microsoft has promised it will invest more in technologies, capabilities, capital, and resources "than ever before." It will also aim to fully support Chinese enterprises and partners and help to continuously improve their core competitiveness in technologies and businesses through the development of innovation culture and business resilience and jointly promote the win-win cooperation for the entire Microsoft ecosystem. 

On Surface Duo 

Fifteen of the world's leading internet scientific and technological achievements were unveiled and presented with awards on Monday at the World Internet Conference - Internet Development Forum held in Wuzhen, east China's Zhejiang province. Microsoft's newly released double-screen smartphone, "Surface Duo," is one of them. 

"Our original intention in creating the Surface Duo was very pure; that is, we wanted to create an unprecedented product form with the most exquisite design and craftsmanship, to give people inspiration for portable mobile devices, and to promote innovation and change in mobile productivity experience," Kang said. The mobile phone has not yet set a release date in China. 

In the past few years, Microsoft has worked hard to transform itself and become the world's leading public cloud provider. Now there are more than 60 data centers in many countries around the world, including China, and it is the first international public cloud provider to legally land in China. About 95% of Fortune 500 customers are running on Microsoft Azure, the company's public cloud platform. 

Kang said Microsoft is not a mobile phone manufacturer but a platform and productivity company. Surface hardware must complement Microsoft 365 to maximize its potential and bring about a modern productivity experience that allows software and hardware to seamlessly connect with each other. 

In his observations, the world has become more "mobile," more dependent on "cloud computing," and the boundaries between the two have become more blurred. Microsoft hopes to develop more products like the Surface Duo. They are small enough to be easily carried around, but their performance must be strong enough to meet the needs of production efficiency and creativity. 

"In general, the industry promotes technologies, and technologies promote possibilities. This is what we think the meaning is for the Surface Duo and even the entire Surface series products in the field of mobile internet," Kang said.

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