Microsoft Research chief Harry Shum will head the new AI division, according to GeekWire. In addition to his old department, the new group will include products like Cortana and Bing with the Ambient Computing and Robotics teams, as well as the company's Information Platform Group. Collecting them all under one banner suggests how standardized they want their AI tech to be between disparate programs. It's similar to how Microsoft internally pivoted to collectively harness the Internet in the mid-90s, GeekWire points out.

In a blog post, Shum said that the collaboration will build "an AI stack spanning infrastructure, services, apps and agents." That will permit Microsoft's mission shift to "democratize AI" by integrating it into more consumer, enterprise and developer projects. Hopefully, byproducts from the AI division's R&D will produce fewer missteps like last March's foul-mouthed Twitterbot and more advancements like their pilot project using AI to discover cancer treatments.