Microsoft Research Podcast Researchers across the Microsoft research community
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- Tecnologia
An ongoing series of conversations bringing you right up to the cutting edge of Microsoft Research.
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Abstracts: March 21, 2024
Members of the research community at Microsoft work continuously to advance their respective fields. Abstracts brings its audience to the cutting edge with them through short, compelling conversations about new and noteworthy achievements. In this episode, Senior Researcher Chang Liu joins host Gretchen Huizinga to discuss Overcoming the Barrier of Orbital-Free Density Functional Theory for Molecular Systems Using Deep Learning (https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/research/publication/overcoming-the-barrier-of-orbital-free-density-functional-theory-for-molecular-systems-using-deep-learning/).” In the paper, Liu and his coauthors present M-OFDFT, a variation of orbital-free density functional theory (OFDFT). M-OFDFT leverages deep learning to help identify molecular properties in a way that minimizes the tradeoff between accuracy and efficiency, work with the potential to benefit areas such as drug discovery and materials discovery.Read the paper
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Abstracts: February 29, 2024
Members of the research community at Microsoft work continuously to advance their respective fields. Abstracts brings its audience to the cutting edge with them through short, compelling conversations about new and noteworthy achievements. In this episode, Senior Behavioral Science Researcher Lev Tankelevitch (https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/research/people/t-levt/) joins host Gretchen Huizinga to discuss “The Metacognitive Demands and Opportunities of Generative AI (https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/research/publication/the-metacognitive-demands-and-opportunities-of-generative-ai/).” In their paper, Tankelevitch and his coauthors propose using the scientific study of how people monitor, understand, and adapt their thinking to address common challenges of incorporating generative AI into life and work—from crafting effective prompts to determining the value of AI-generated outputs. To learn more about the paper and related topics, register for Microsoft Research Forum (https://aka.ms/researchforum/), a series of panel discussions and lightning talks around science and technology research in the era of general AI.Read the paper
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What’s Your Story: Nicole Forsgren
In the Microsoft Research Podcast series What’s Your Story, Johannes Gehrke explores the who behind the technical and scientific advancements helping to reshape the world. A systems expert whose 10 years with Microsoft spans research and product, Gehrke talks to members of the company’s research community about what motivates their work and how they got where they are today.Partner Research Manager and leading developer experience expert Nicole Forsgren oversees Microsoft Research efforts to enhance software engineering effectiveness through the study of developer productivity, community, and well-being. In this episode, she discusses AI’s potential impact on software engineering, what she loves about tech, and how thoughtful decision making—combined with listening to her gut—has led to opportunities as a developer, accounting professor, and founder and CEO of a startup that was eventually acquired by Google.Learn more:* Nicole Forsgren at Microsoft Research (https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/research/people/niforsgr/)* Nicole Forsgren website (https://nicolefv.com/)* Quantifying the impact of developer experience (https://azure.microsoft.com/en-us/blog/quantifying-the-impact-of-developer-experience/) | Microsoft Azure Blog, January 2024* Yes, good DevEx increases productivity. Here is the data. (https://github.blog/2024-01-23-good-devex-increases-productivity/) | GitHub blog, January 2024* Accelerate: The Science of Lean Software and DevOps: Building and Scaling High Performing Technology Organizations (https://itrevolution.com/product/accelerate/) | Book, 2018
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What’s Your Story: Ivan Tashev
In the Microsoft Research Podcast series What’s Your Story, Johannes Gehrke explores the who behind the technical and scientific advancements helping to reshape the world. A systems expert whose 10 years with Microsoft spans research and product, Gehrke talks to members of the company’s research community about what motivates their work and how they got where they are today.Partner Software Architect Ivan Tashev’s expertise in audio signal processing has contributed to the design and study of audio components for Microsoft products such as Kinect, Teams, and HoloLens. In this episode, Tashev discusses how a first-place finish in the Mathematical Olympiad fueled a lifelong passion for shooting film; how a company event showcasing cutting-edge projects precipitated his move from product back to research; and how laser focus on things within his control has helped him find success in 25-plus years with Microsoft.Learn more:* Ivan Tashev at Microsoft Research (https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/research/people/ivantash/)* Distributed Meetings: A Meeting Capture and Broadcasting System (https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/research/publication/distributed-meetings-a-meeting-capture-and-broadcasting-system/) | Publication, December 2002* Research Collection: The Unseen History of Audio and Acoustics Research at Microsoft (https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/research/blog/research-collection-the-unseen-history-of-audio-and-acoustics-research-at-microsoft/) | Microsoft Research blog, August 2020
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Abstracts: January 25, 2024
Members of the research community at Microsoft work continuously to advance their respective fields. Abstracts brings its audience to the cutting edge with them through short, compelling conversations about new and noteworthy achievements.In this episode, Senior Researchers Jordan Ash (https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/research/people/joash/) and Dipendra Misra (https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/research/people/dimisra/) join host Gretchen Huizinga to discuss “The Truth is in There: Improving Reasoning in Language Models with Layer-Selective Rank Reduction (https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/research/publication/the-truth-is-in-there-improving-reasoning-in-language-models-with-layer-selective-rank-reduction/),” which was accepted to the 2024 International Conference on Learning Representations (ICLR). Layer-Selective Rank reduction, or LASER, is an intervention for targeted parameter reduction in transformer-based models. The work shows that the removal of certain parameters not only maintains model performance like some existing parameter-reduction methods but can actually improve it—no additional training necessary.To learn more about the paper and related topics, register for Microsoft Research Forum (https://aka.ms/researchforum/), a series of panel discussions and lightning talks around science and technology research in the era of general AI.Learn more:* The Truth is in There: Improving Reasoning in Language Models with Layer-Selective Rank Reduction (https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/research/publication/the-truth-is-in-there-improving-reasoning-in-language-models-with-layer-selective-rank-reduction/) | Publication, December 2023* LASER code on GitHub (https://pratyushasharma.github.io/laser/)
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AI Frontiers: A deep dive into deep learning with Ashley Llorens and Chris Bishop
Powerful large-scale AI models like GPT-4 are showing dramatic improvements in reasoning, problem-solving, and language capabilities. This marks a phase change for artificial intelligence—and a signal of accelerating progress to come.In this Microsoft Research Podcast series, AI scientist and engineer Ashley Llorens hosts conversations with his collaborators and colleagues about what these models—and the models that will come next—mean for our approach to creating, understanding, and deploying AI, its applications in areas such as healthcare and education, and its potential to benefit humanity.This episode features Technical Fellow Christopher Bishop (https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/research/people/cmbishop/prml-book/), who leads a global team of researchers and engineers working to help accelerate scientific discovery by merging machine learning and the natural sciences. Llorens and Bishop explore the state of deep learning; Bishop’s new textbook Deep Learning: Foundations and Concepts (https://www.bishopbook.com/), his third and a writing collaboration with his son; and a potential future in which “super copilots” accessible via natural language and drawing on a variety of tools, like those that can simulate the fundamental equations of nature, are empowering scientists in their pursuit of breakthrough.Learn more:* Deep Learning: Foundations and Concepts (https://www.bishopbook.com/) | Textbook, 2023* Pattern Recognition and Machine Learning (https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/research/publication/pattern-recognition-machine-learning/) | Textbook, 2006* Neural Networks for Pattern Recognition (https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/research/publication/neural-networks-pattern-recognition-2/) | Textbook, 1995