Microsoft Research Cambridge
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New Future of Work: AI is driving rapid change, uneven benefits
| Jaime Teevan, Sonia Jaffe, Rebecca Janssen, Nancy Baym, Siân Lindley, Bahar Sarrafzadeh, Brent Hecht, Jenna Butler, Jake Hofman, and Sean Rintel
For the past five years, the New Future of Work report has captured how work is changing. This year, the shift feels especially sharp. Previous editions have focused on technology’s role in increasing productivity by automating tasks, accelerating communication, and…
Ideas: Steering AI toward the work future we want
| Jaime Teevan, Jenna Butler, Jake Hofman, and Rebecca Janssen
Microsoft Chief Scientist Jaime Teevan and researchers Jenna Butler, Jake Hofman, and Rebecca Janssen unpack the New Future of Work Report 2025 and explore the ideal AI-driven working world. Plus, is AI a tool or a collaborator? And why the answer matters.
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…