John Langford, a partner researcher manager at Microsoft Research New York, said he has left Microsoft and that the company's AI Frontiers group is over, according to a Nov. 6 post on his Machine Learning (Theory) blog^1,2.

Langford wrote that he and colleagues created AI Frontiers inside Microsoft Research in 2023 after ChatGPT's release, seeking more organized research than typical MSR projects¹. The group had about 50 people^1,2.

He said much of the work focused on making agents function, citing the Autogen orchestration framework and the Fara computer-use agent, plus research on new training objectives and architectures¹.

In early September the group was reorganized into Microsoft AI, Langford wrote^1,2. He said combining the units could concentrate effort, but that the philosophy of Microsoft AI's former Inflection leadership was incompatible with the group's work¹.

Langford described that philosophy as scaling, and "aggressively not research"¹. He said returns to scale are more predictable for a business than returns to research, and that a scaling-only environment focuses mainly on getting, making and refining data^1,2.

He called a scaling-only focus misdirected and unenjoyable, while arguing that research returns remain significant¹. Business Examiner noted those are his judgments about the unit his group joined, not stated company-wide policy². Microsoft did not comment in the accounts reviewed^1,2.

Langford wrote that he situated his people as best he could and left, and that every other founding AI Frontiers leadership team member seemed to reach a similar conclusion^1,2. He said he could not get innovations used or even seriously considered while in Microsoft AI¹.

He said returning to Microsoft Research held little appeal because he is not comfortable at a company where his research has no path to real use, and because he sees a breakdown of MSR's bargain that good work is rewarded¹. He added that there will be no internships with the group in the coming year^1,2.

Business Examiner said Langford's post does not detail the group's formal status or where remaining staff were assigned². What's next for Microsoft AI, Microsoft Research, and Langford was not stated in the sources^1,2.