<h2>You Got Owned</h2>
Microsoft is about to delete its eBook store. And when it goes, so too will every single book that anyone bought on the platform.
Those soon-to-be disgruntled readers will get full refunds, <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/technology-47810367">BBC </a><a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/technology-47810367">reports</a>, but the shutdown serves as a reminder of the transience of the internet — and how even media people think they own can be deleted with the push of a button.
<h2>Book Burning</h2>
In another recent example of the same phenomenon, Myspace deleted over a <a href="https://gizmodo.com/myspace-reportedly-deleted-years-of-music-by-accident-a-1833375486">decade of music history</a> when the surprisingly-extant social media site migrated across servers last month.
And while the news prompted countless jokes from people who were relieved that a record of their cringey teenage years had been erased, it also demonstrated how quickly things stored on the internet can be <a href="https://loudwire.com/myspace-delete-songs-musicians-react/">lost forever</a>.
<h2>Returns Policy</h2>
Microsoft&#8217;s eBook store closure isn&#8217;t so extreme — the books <a href="https://futurism.com/people-reading-publishers-gamifying-books">still exist elsewhere</a>. But the store&#8217;s customers will still find themselves cut off from media that they thought they owned.
In the long run, Microsoft closing its digital bookstore won&#8217;t change much. People will get their money back and feasibly be able to find their books elsewhere, armed with the knowledge that buying an eBook is really more of borrowing a rental that can be nabbed away at any time.
READ MORE: <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/technology-47810367">Microsoft&#8217;s eBook store: When this closes, your books disappear too</a> [BBC News]
More on books: <a href="https://futurism.com/people-reading-publishers-gamifying-books">This Ebook Company Is Trying to Make Reading More Like Videogames</a>

Online purchases are really more of rentals.

Microsoft is closing an eBook store, deleting all books you bought

One-Sided Arrangement

Microsoft is set to close its ebook store. Once it does, every book purchased on the platform will be deleted and refunded.

Microsoft is Closing an eBook Store, Deleting All Books You Bought

The news serves as a reminder that people don't own digital media.

<h2>International Collaboration</h2>
When Google announced Project Dragonfly, a version of its search engine that would cater to China&#8217;s censored internet, pockets of the internet and the company&#8217;s own workforce <a href="https://futurism.com/the-byte/dragonfly-chinese-search-engine">erupted in protest</a>.
But many other American scientists and companies have quietly helped China build its surveillance state, <a href="https://foreignpolicy.com/2019/03/19/962492-orwell-china-socialcredit-surveillance/">according to Foreign Policy</a>, where citizens are now subjected to near-constant monitoring through facial recognition software — including tech used to <a href="https://thehill.com/homenews/administration/419855-state-dept-official-china-holding-800k-uighurs-others-in-internment">detain Chinese Muslims</a> in sinister &#8220;re-education camps.&#8221;
<h2>Follow The Money</h2>
The news of these partnerships comes after Chinese security company SenseNets accidentally left a database of information about how the government constantly tracks 2.5 million people in the Xinjiang province unsecured on the internet.
The database revealed that SenseNets was one of the companies responsible for China&#8217;s ongoing effort to detain and &#8220;standardize&#8221; its population of Turkish Uighur population, according to Foreign Policy. Meanwhile, MIT <a href="https://futurism.com/sensetime-china-ai-startup-surveillance">announced early last year</a> that it would partner with a Chinese AI company, SenseTime — which happens to own 49 percent of SenseNets and independently helps the Chinese government develop surveillance systems as well.
MIT researchers have also <a href="https://news.mit.edu/2018/csail-launches-five-year-collaboration-with-iflytek-0615">partnered with iFlytek</a>, a Chinese company that has been flagged by <a href="https://www.hrw.org/news/2017/10/22/china-voice-biometric-collection-threatens-privacy">human rights watchdogs</a> for its work monitoring electronic communications.
<h2>Widespread Problem</h2>
It&#8217;s not just MIT.
Scientists from Yale, Carnegie Mellon University, and American companies including drone software firm Exyn and data center Amax have partnered with Chinese scientists and companies developing surveillance tech for the government.
Thermo Fisher sold DNA mapping technology to the Xinjiang government. SenseNets also claimed to have a partnership with Microsoft, which a Microsoft denied in a comment to Foreign Policy.
Late last year, the Commerce Department <a href="https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/2018/11/19/2018-25221/review-of-controls-for-certain-emerging-technologies">proposed new regulations</a> to handle how various companies and universities develop emerging technologies like facial recognition software, but Foreign Policy argues that the rules are too vague to actually block American scientists from contributing to Chinese surveillance.
Unfortunately, the onus remains on individual companies and scientists to make sure they&#8217;re not complicit in humans rights abuses around the world.
READ MORE: <a href="https://foreignpolicy.com/2019/03/19/962492-orwell-china-socialcredit-surveillance/">U.S. Firms Are Helping Build China’s Orwellian State</a> [Foreign Policy]
More on surveillance: <a href="https://futurism.com/facial-recognition-china-social-credit">If You Jaywalk in China, Facial Recognition Means You’ll Walk Away With A Fine</a>

Technology build in U.S. labs is being used to monitor and detain minorities in China.

Americans built tech for China's sinister "re-education camps"

Unethical Teamwork

Though Google's Project Dragonfly made headlines, a number of American scientists are helping Chinese build its ubiquitous surveillance state.

Americans Built Tech for China’s Sinister “Re-Education Camps”

MIT and Yale — and possibly Microsoft — are helping build China's surveillance state.

<h2>Augmented Warfare</h2>
More than fifty employees at Microsoft <a href="https://phys.org/news/2019-02-microsoft-workers-protest-hololens-headsets.html">signed a letter</a> this week calling for the company to cancel a military contract that would supply U.S. Army soldiers with HoloLens augmented reality headsets.
<a href="https://twitter.com/MsWorkers4/status/1099066343523930112/photo/1">The letter</a> titled &#8220;HoloLens for Good, Not War&#8221; states that the headset &#8220;will be deployed on the battlefield, and works by turning warfare into a simulated &#8216;video game,&#8217; further distancing soldiers from the grim stakes of war and the reality of bloodshed.&#8221;
In November, Microsoft signed a <a href="https://futurism.com/soldiers-microsoft-ar-goggles-combat">$479 million contract</a> with the Army with plans to supply them with more than 100,000 specialized HoloLens headsets as part of a broader plan to develop an &#8220;Integrated Visual Augmentation System&#8221; (IVAS).
Their demands are for Microsoft to cancel the IVAS contract, &#8220;cease developing any and all weapons technologies,&#8221; and appoint an &#8220;external ethics review board.&#8221;
<h2>&#8220;HoloLens for Good, Not War&#8221;</h2>
The military is planning to use Microsoft’s augmented reality goggles to “increase lethality by enhancing the ability to detect, decide and engage before the enemy,” according to a government description of the program as <a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2018-11-28/microsoft-wins-480-million-army-battlefield-contract">quoted by Bloomberg</a> in November.
It&#8217;s not the first time workers of a major tech corporation have demanded their employers to cut ties with the military. Last year, thousands of Google employees circulated a letter demanding CEO Sundar Pichai to pull out of a Pentagon project <a href="https://futurism.com/google-jk-project-maven-work-military-still">called Project Maven</a>, a surveillance drone initiative for the U.S. military.
This week&#8217;s letter is testament to the tech sector taking a stronger stance on their employers doing business with the military. &#8220;As employees and shareholders we do not want to become war profiteers,&#8221; reads the letter.
READ MORE: <a href="https://phys.org/news/2019-02-microsoft-workers-protest-hololens-headsets.html">Microsoft workers protest use of HoloLens headsets for war</a> [Associated Press] 

More on the Microsoft contract: <a href="https://futurism.com/soldiers-microsoft-ar-goggles-combat">U.S. Soldiers to Wear Microsoft AR Goggles During Combat Missions</a>

In November, Microsoft signed a $479 million contract with the Army supplying them with more than 100,000 specialized HoloLens headsets.

Employees demand Microsoft to cancel U.S. Army HoloLens contract

HoloLens Warfare

Employees at Microsoft signed a letter calling for the company to cancel a military contract that would supply U.S. Army soldiers with HoloLens AR headsets. 

Employees Demand Microsoft Cancel U.S. Army HoloLens Contract

"Intent to harm is not an acceptable use of our technology."

<h2>PopeBot</h2>
Pope Francis met with the president of Microsoft, Brad Smith, on Wednesday for a closed-doors meeting about the future of artificial intelligence.
When they emerged, they announced a joint mission to help promote the development of responsible, ethical AI that helps rather than exploits people, <a href="https://www.seattletimes.com/business/vatican-microsoft-team-up-on-artificial-intelligence-ethics/">according to The Seattle Times</a>, demonstrating that the possible risks of AI technology is a hot topic even at the Vatican.
<h2>Digital Equality</h2>
Smith and Francis discussed how artificial intelligence could help alleviate global inequality rather than exacerbate it, <a href="https://www.reuters.com/article/us-technology-microsoft-pope/pope-discusses-ethics-of-artificial-intelligence-with-microsoft-chief-idUSKCN1Q22B0?utm_source=reddit.com">according to Reuters</a>.
Artificial intelligence stands to generate vast wealth for the corporations and countries that develop it, but in doing so they could <a href="https://futurism.com/artificial-intelligence-benefits-select-few">leave the rest of the world behind</a>.
<h2>Raise the Stakes</h2>
The duo announced that they would jointly sponsor a prize for AI researchers working to develop ethical, responsible AI tech. The winner will be someone who presented a doctoral thesis on artificial intelligence tech that stands to benefit the common good, The Seattle Times reports.
The $6,900 prize and an invitation to Microsoft’s office in Seattle is paltry compared to what the two could have offered up, but the contest still represents an increasingly public drive to make sure that AI is developed with the needs of humanity in mind.
READ MORE: <a href="https://www.seattletimes.com/business/vatican-microsoft-team-up-on-artificial-intelligence-ethics/">Vatican, Microsoft team up on artificial intelligence ethics</a> [The Seattle Times]
More on AI: <a href="https://futurism.com/ai-formed-cartel-gouge-humans">Two Pricing AIs Went Rogue and Formed a Cartel to Gouge Humans</a>

Brad Smith and Pope Francis walk into a bar...

Microsoft's president met with the pope to talk about ethical AI

Saintly Robotics

Pope Francis and Microsoft's Brad Smith met recently to discuss how AI could be developed in an ethical way and announced a new ethical AI contest.

Microsoft’s President Met With the Pope to Talk About Ethical AI

The Vatican wants to make sure AI serves humanity.

<h2>Bumpy Ride</h2>
One day, we might have autonomous cars that drive us to work and robots that prepare our dinners.
But what we have right now are autonomous cars that <a href="https://techcrunch.com/2016/12/14/uber-looking-into-incident-of-self-driving-car-running-a-red-light-captured-on-dashcam/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">run red lights</a> and robots that agree to &#8220;<a href="https://youtu.be/W0_DPi0PmF0" target="_blank" rel="noopener">destroy humans.</a>&#8221;
Clearly, we have a ways to go before we work out all the kinks in the extremely promising area of artificial intelligence — and Microsoft wants to be sure its investors know the path to an AI-powered future could include a few more bumps.
<h2>Bad Reputation</h2>
On Aug. 3, 2018, Microsoft filed <a href="https://draftable.com/compare/nQfhsRSwsCJR" target="_blank" rel="noopener">its annual 10-K form</a> with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). This form serves as a company&#8217;s opportunity to let the public know about any new business risks that might affect their decision to invest in the company.
On Tuesday, <a href="https://qz.com/1542377/microsoft-warned-investors-that-biased-or-flawed-ai-could-hurt-the-companys-image/">Quartz reported</a> that Microsoft had added a new section to its 2018 10-K, one specifically dedicated to the company&#8217;s AI efforts and the risks inherent in them:
<blockquote>We are building AI into many of our offerings and we expect this element of our business to grow&#8230; As with many disruptive innovations, AI presents risks and challenges that could affect its adoption, and therefore our business. AI algorithms may be flawed. Datasets may be insufficient or contain biased information. Inappropriate or controversial data practices by Microsoft or others could impair the acceptance of AI solutions. These deficiencies could undermine the decisions, predictions, or analysis AI applications produce, subjecting us to competitive harm, legal liability, and brand or reputational harm. Some AI scenarios present ethical issues. If we enable or offer AI solutions that are controversial because of their impact on human rights, privacy, employment, or other social issues, we may experience brand or reputational harm.
If our reputation or our brands are damaged, our business and operating results may be harmed.</blockquote>
<h2>Tay Day</h2>
Microsoft has a reason to be wary of <a href="https://futurism.com/microsoft-announces-tool-catch-biased-ai">flawed or biased AI</a>.
In 2016, it found itself at the center of a major scandal when its Tay chatbot began <a href="https://www.theverge.com/2016/3/24/11297050/tay-microsoft-chatbot-racist" target="_blank" rel="noopener">spewing Nazi propaganda</a> online. Then, in Feb. 2018, <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2018/02/09/technology/facial-recognition-race-artificial-intelligence.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">MIT researchers announced</a> that the company&#8217;s AI-powered facial recognition system returned a 21 percent error rate for darker-skinned women — and less than 1 percent for light-skinned men.
Given the remarkable promise of AI, it&#8217;s highly unlikely a tech company as big as Microsoft would ever consider getting out of the space. So it&#8217;s doing the next best thing with this 10-K filing: letting investors know it might need to weather a few more storms before reaching the sunny future AI could deliver.
READ MORE: <a href="https://qz.com/1542377/microsoft-warned-investors-that-biased-or-flawed-ai-could-hurt-the-companys-image/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Microsoft Warned Investors That Biased or Flawed AI Could Hurt the Company’s Image</a> [Quartz]
More on Microsoft: <a href="https://futurism.com/microsoft-announces-tool-catch-biased-ai" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Microsoft Announces Tool to Catch Biased AI Because We Keep Making Biased AI</a>

It's warning investors that the road ahead could be bumpy.

Microsoft is worried biased AI will hurt its reputation

AI Infamy

In a recent filing with the SEC, Microsoft warns investors that faulty or biased AI could potentially harm the company's reputation.

Microsoft Is Worried Its AI Will Go Rogue and Hurt Its Reputation

The company got burned when its chatbot turned into a Nazi. Now it's worried about the future.

<h2>Can You Hear Me Now?</h2>
Having a voice assistant to help you is great, but having the details of an appointment with your doctor recited in public? Arguably not so great.
Voice assistants and voice command technology are both becoming increasingly popular. Amazon alone has already sold <a href="https://www.cnet.com/news/amazon-has-sold-more-than-100-million-alexa-devices/">more than 100 million</a> Alexa devices, clearly the technology is here to stay in our homes. In public however, where strangers might overhear personal business or sensitive information, people have been much less eager to use voice commands. That&#8217;s a problem Microsoft aims to solve with a patent on <a href="https://patentscope.wipo.int/search/en/detail.jsf?docId=WO2018223388&amp;tab=FULLTEXT&amp;maxRec=1000">&#8220;silent&#8221; voice input</a> technology.
<h2>The Sound of &#8220;Silence&#8221;</h2>
Microsoft&#8217;s &#8220;silent&#8221; technology makes use of the way whispering works. When you whisper you exhale breath from your lungs with your words. Microsoft&#8217;s proposed device would instead have you inhale while whispering (give it a try, it&#8217;s even harder than it sounds.) It&#8217;s a process known as ingressive airflow, and Microsoft proposes exploiting it to enable devices to process whispered voice commands in public.
There is one drawback. In order for a device to process your inhaled whisper, your face needs to be really close to the device, really close. About <a href="https://www.engadget.com/2019/01/03/microsoft-patent-whisper-voice-assistants/">two millimeters</a> close, in fact. You might feel more comfortable issuing &#8220;silent&#8221; voice commands in public, but is privacy worth the cost of practically kissing your smartphone? Here&#8217;s Microsoft researcher Masaaki Fukumoto demonstrating the technology in action.<iframe frameborder="0" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/uw_d17l13KU" width="560"></iframe>
<h2>Whispers of The Future</h2>
Whether or not you&#8217;re comfortable planting a kiss on your smart device is your business but, regardless, the technology described in Microsoft&#8217;s patent is still only a patent, for now. Although there&#8217;s nothing to say that we might not someday be whispering commands to our phones, watches, rings, TVs, and other smart devices. Even if the future doesn&#8217;t involve mouth-to-device whispering, it&#8217;s an interesting exploration of a new concept which could spark novel research ideas.
READ MORE: <a href="https://www.engadget.com/2019/01/03/microsoft-patent-whisper-voice-assistants/">Microsoft patent suggests you inhale whisper to your voice assistants</a> [Engadget]
More on Voice Recognition: <a href="https://futurism.com/otter-app-transcription-real-time">A New AI-Powered App Transcribes Your Conversations in Real-Time</a>

It's as close to silence as whispers get.

Microsoft patents "silent" voice command technology

Whisper Tech

A new Microsoft patent aims to encourage people to use voice commands in public using whispered "silent" voice command technology.

Microsoft Patents “Silent” Voice Command Technology

The company wants you to chat with Cortana in public.

<h2>AR Combat</h2>
Augmented reality in live combat is no longer science fiction.
The U.S. Army has been using Microsoft&#8217;s HoloLens during <a href="https://qz.com/827276/microsofts-hololens-headset-will-allow-real-tank-operators-to-see-the-battlefield-outside/">training missions</a> since at least 2016, providing soldiers with live information and locking onto targets. But now the headsets are headed into combat.
Microsoft just won a sizable $480 million contract with the U.S. government, <a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2018-11-28/microsoft-wins-480-million-army-battlefield-contract">according to Bloomberg</a>. The two year contract includes an order of more than 100,000 units.
<h2>Enhance</h2>
The military is planning to use Microsoft&#8217;s augmented reality goggles to &#8220;increase lethality by enhancing the ability to detect, decide and engage before the enemy,&#8221; according to a government description of the program quoted by Bloomberg.
The Army is also planning to enhance the capabilities of the HoloLens by adding night vision, thermal sensing, live vital signs monitoring, and hearing protection.
<h2>Military AR-dustrial</h2>
Microsoft wasn&#8217;t the only tech company pursuing this lucrative contract. AR goggles startup <a href="https://futurism.com/the-byte/magic-leap-disappointing-demo">Magic Leap</a> <a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2018-09-21/magic-leap-is-bidding-on-an-army-combat-contract">put in a bid</a> as well.
Big government contracts are as old as Silicon Valley itself. Arguably, GPS <a href="https://asc.army.mil/web/portfolio-item/navstar-global-positioning-system-gps/">never would&#8217;ve been invented</a> without the U.S. military.
But big tech is grappling with its relationship with the military right now, especially with Google&#8217;s Project Maven AI drone contract with the Pentagon <a href="https://gizmodo.com/thousands-of-google-employees-protest-companys-involvem-1824988565">proving highly unpopular</a> among employees. But it&#8217;s tough to predict whether tech workers will ever have enough sway over their employers to prevent future military contracts.
READ MORE: <a href="https://www.technologyreview.com/the-download/612490/us-army-soldiers-will-soon-wear-microsofts-hololens-ar-goggles-in-combat/">US Army soldiers will soon wear Microsoft’s HoloLens AR goggles in combat</a> [MIT Technology Review]
More on Microsoft&#8217;s HoloLens: <a href="https://futurism.com/the-byte/how-nasa-is-using-augmented-reality-to-build-its-next-capsule">Lockheed Engineers Are Using HoloLens to Build NASA&#8217;s New Space Capsule</a>

But Microsoft still has a lot of work to do.

U.S. soldiers to wear Microsoft AR goggles during combat missions

AR Combat

Microsoft just won a $480 million contract with the U.S. government. It's planning on providing the Army with 100,000 HoloLens AR goggles.

U.S. Soldiers to Wear Microsoft AR Goggles During Combat Missions

The U.S. Army is buying 100,000 HoloLens goggles.

<h2>People Watching</h2>
Brad Smith, the President of Microsoft, issued a public warning about the terrifying ways facial recognition technology could be used to exploit and abuse all of us.
Speaking at Web Summit in Portugal on Wednesday, Smith cautioned that with facial recognition software, governments would <a href="https://futurism.com/the-byte/gait-recognition-china-surveillance">be able to monitor everyone</a> at all times, <a href="https://www.recode.net/2018/11/7/18072048/facial-recognition-regulation-brad-smith-tony-blair-web-summit">Recode reported</a>.
<blockquote>“For the first time, the world is on the threshold of technology that would give a government the ability to follow anyone anywhere, and everyone everywhere. It could know exactly where you are going, where you have been and where you were yesterday as well. And this has profound potential ramifications for even just the fundamental civil liberties on which democratic societies rely. Before we wake up and find that the year 2024 looks like the book &#8216;1984,&#8217; let’s figure out what kind of world we want to create, and what are the safeguards and what are the limitations of both companies and governments for the use of this technology.”</blockquote>
<h2>Lend a Hand?</h2>
Smith has been vocal about the same issue in the past, repeatedly calling for America’s leaders to <a href="https://futurism.com/microsoft-facial-recognition-regulation">regulate and limit facial recognition software</a>. Of course, asking for vague regulations from lawmakers that Smith knows almost never agree on matters of technology, surveillance, or privacy, might not be the most surefire strategy.
Nobody asked us, but maybe a better approach might be to stop <a href="https://azure.microsoft.com/en-us/services/cognitive-services/face/">creating and selling facial recognition systems</a> at Microsoft.
<h2>Lead the Way</h2>
Many of the giant tech corporations, <a href="https://futurism.com/the-byte/bezos-amazon-government">including Amazon</a> <a href="https://futurism.com/the-byte/dragonfly-google-muslims-china">and Google</a>, have been under fire lately for controversial defense and government contracts.
If Smith really wants to be an ethical tech leader, it would be a simple matter to end facial recognition at his own company and focus on more ethical contracts in the future.
READ MORE: <a href="https://www.recode.net/2018/11/7/18072048/facial-recognition-regulation-brad-smith-tony-blair-web-summit">Microsoft’s president says we need to regulate facial recognition tech before ‘the year 2024 looks like the book “1984”’</a> [Recode]
More on facial recognition: <a href="https://futurism.com/the-byte/amazon-facial-recognition-ice">Report: Amazon Tried to Sell Facial Recognition Tech to ICE</a>

Microsoft president Brad Smith fears facial recognition. Too bad his company makes it.

Microsoft President Warns Of "1984" Facial Recognition Future

Real Eyes

Brad Smith, President of Microsoft, issued a dire warning of a future where facial recognition tech helps the government track civilians. He's helping it.

Microsoft President Warns Of “1984” Facial Recognition Future

"The world is on the threshold of technology that would give a government the ability to follow anyone anywhere."

<h2>Skimming Headlines</h2>
Microsoft’s artificial intelligence research lab knows that reading the news is hard, so they built a neural net to do it for you.
According to research <a href="https://arxiv.org/pdf/1811.01824.pdf">shared on ArXiv on Monday</a>, the algorithm is able to parse through a short news column — the samples themselves were about a paragraph long — and churn out a sentence or two to summarize the most important information.
<h2>Pulitzer Season</h2>
Reading the samples, it&#8217;s clear that the algorithm can’t really understand what it writes. Microsoft hasn’t quite cracked <a href="https://futurism.com/artificial-intelligence-hype">an ongoing challenge</a> for AI researchers trying to get their software to <a href="https://futurism.com/artificial-intelligence-remember-agi">understand context and nuance</a>.
In fact, much of the prose generated by the algorithm is directly copied and pasted from the input text. The more successful examples are simply shorter versions of the first two sentences of the original news column, which were probably written conventionally with the most important facts up top.
Some changes are made for clarity, though. For instance, the phrase “…Atlanta Police spokeswoman Elizabeth Espy said” becomes “police say” in the shortened version.
<h2>Pink Slip</h2>
No, this doesn’t mean AI is coming for journalism; you can get down from that high horse of yours.
Rather, algorithms like this <a href="https://futurism.com/the-byte/contest-ai-news-media">stand to help journalists</a> and readers who are understandably exhausted by the news cycle. Because honestly, we get it.
READ MORE: <a href="https://venturebeat.com/2018/11/06/microsoft-researchers-develop-ai-system-that-can-generate-articles-summaries/">Microsoft develops flexible AI system that can summarize the news</a> [Venture Beat]
More on AI-generated journalism: <a href="https://futurism.com/ai-journalist-media-bias-news-knowhere">A New AI “Journalist” Is Rewriting the News to Remove Bias</a>

Microsoft's new neural network summarizes the news — erratically

Front Page News

Microsoft just created a new AI system that can scan a news column and pull out the most important facts for quicker reading.

Microsoft’s New Neural Network Summarizes the News — Erratically

News anchor AI will save us all.

<h2>An Ocean of Data</h2>
Think water and electricity don&#8217;t mix? A new kind of data center is turning that idea on its head.
Back in 2016 we reported on <a href="https://futurism.com/microsoft-tests-prototype-underwater-data-center" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Project Natick</a>, Microsoft&#8217;s moonshot idea of building data centers underwater, where they&#8217;d be cooled by the chilly water of the ocean. Now, with one of the centers deployed off the coast of Scotland, CEO Satya Nadella says the company could build more across the globe to support its cloud computing platform.
&#8220;Since 50 percent of the world&#8217;s population lives close to water bodies, we think this is the way we want to think about future data center regions and expansion,&#8221; he told attendees at the Microsoft Future Decoded conference, <a href="https://www.zdnet.com/article/microsoft-ceo-nadella-underwater-data-centers-are-the-future/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">according to ZDNet</a>.
<h2>Tiny Pod</h2>
The data center off the coast of Scotland is a 40-foot pod containing 864 servers, with a liquid cooling system that transfers heat from the computers into the ocean. It&#8217;s powered by wind from the Orkney Islands grid and should last for about five years.
The small size of the center comes with numerous benefits. Microsoft could deploy more of the centers in other locations, reducing the distance between the servers and Microsoft cloud users to cut latency.
&#8220;It was very fast to build, the entire supply chain of it, from start to finish, was 90 days,&#8221; said Nadella.
<h2>First of Many</h2>
Microsoft will spend at least the next year observing the Scotland data center. If it continues to work as hoped, the company could eventually build entire <a href="https://spectrum.ieee.org/computing/hardware/want-an-energyefficient-data-center-build-it-underwater" target="_blank" rel="noopener">collections of underwater pods</a>, each housing upwards of several thousand servers.
And as long as they&#8217;re air-tight, their close proximity to water will serve as a benefit and not a cause for concern.
READ MORE: <a href="https://www.zdnet.com/article/microsoft-ceo-nadella-underwater-data-centers-are-the-future/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Microsoft CEO Nadella: Underwater Data Centers Are the Future</a> [ZD Net]
More on Project Natick: <a href="https://futurism.com/microsoft-tests-prototype-underwater-data-center" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Microsoft Tests Prototype of Underwater Data Center</a>

Microsoft's underwater data center is actually working, says CEO

Depth Charge

Microsoft's underwater data center off the cost of Scotland could be the first of many the company deploys to support its cloud technology.

/Microsoft