Microsoft Research Asia StarTrack Scholars Program

Region: Global

1. Societal AI

Big models have showcased unprecedented achievements, establishing a new frontier in technological advancements. Nevertheless, these models are accompanied by profound societal challenges, encompassing security vulnerabilities, ethical considerations, intricate evaluation mechanisms, and broader social repercussions. This research theme aims to foster a comprehensive and interdisciplinary examination of these issues, juxtaposing AI dynamics with parallels in human development.

- Value Alignment: An exploration into ensuring that AI systems resonate with the ethical and moral principles we aim to impart. The goal is to understand and address the discrepancies between human values and AI outcomes.
- Safety: Delving into the protection of LLMs against malicious interventions and potential misuses. The research will also focus on developing defensive strategies and establishing safety best practices for these models.
- LLM Evaluating: A study dedicated to devising robust and holistic performance assessment techniques for AI systems. This will include identifying suitable metrics and benchmarks that capture the multifaceted nature of these models.
- Interdisciplinary Collaborations: By bridging AI with social sciences, we aim to deeply comprehend and tackle the societal ramifications of AI. This involves dissecting its impact on individual, group, and societal dynamics.

Xing Xie (Engaging Lead)
Senior Principal Research Manager, Microsoft Research Asia

With the rising prominence of AI and its profound influence on society, I truly hope that your visit will ignite innovative perspectives and enhance our approach to AI. Additionally, we’re keen to explore the integration of AI with social sciences, and your insights are invaluable in bridging this divide. As we advance technologically, it remains crucial to maintain a holistic view. I look forward to the collaborative strides we will make together.

Fangzhao Wu
Principal Researcher, Microsoft Research Asia

We hope the applicants have real passion in studying and improving the safety of LLMs against many serious risks such as Jailbreaking and Prompt Injection Attack. We also welcome applicants who want to study the LLM’s impact on society, such as productivity, employment, education, and research.

Jianxun Lian
Senior Researcher, Microsoft Research Asia

To obtain a comprehensive understanding of the societal challenges and impacts of LLMs, it is insufficient to solely focus on the individual LLM’s perspective. We advocate for a thorough investigation of AI-related societal topics from diverse viewpoints, such as integrating methods and theories across various disciplines or employing multiple, interconnected LLMs as a foundation. We anticipate a profound exchange of knowledge between artificial intelligence and other disciplines, including social science, psychology, and urban computing and ultimately, yielding interdisciplinary insights and uncovering novel interdisciplinary applications during this research visit.

Jindong Wang
Senior Researcher, Microsoft Research Asia

We hope to gain a holistic understanding of the evaluation of LLMs during this visit. Specifically, establishing a unified and general evaluation framework to support different scenarios and protocols as well as different interdisciplinary research, cultivating new evaluation algorithms and analysis tools to offer insights for assessment, and building a collaborative environment to unite potential researchers in this area.

Xiaoyuan Yi
Senior Researcher, Microsoft Research Asia

We expect to establish a systematic solution to aligning LLMs’ intrinsic values with those of humans by incorporating interdisciplinary insights and methodologies during this visit. Our research will delve into topics include investigating the underlying values of LLMs and their corresponding social impact, and then fostering novel algorithms to align LLMs’ values in a unified, flexible, and efficient way, paving the way for a future where LLMs consistently serve the greater good.

2. Media Foundation

Media Foundation is a cutting-edge research theme that delves into the convergence of multimedia and advanced AI technologies to revolutionize our lives in ways yet to be imagined. Drawing from various disciplines, Media Foundation aims to investigate the potential of advanced AI to learn from real-world multimodal media data, focusing on the symbiotic evolution of multimedia and AI. Humans possess remarkable learning capabilities, acquiring a wide range of skills and knowledge from various modalities, such as vision, hearing, touch, and language. Advanced AI systems also need to learn from the real world. However, how can we bridge the gap between the complex and noisy environment and the abstract and semantic representations of advanced AI? By transforming physical and virtual worlds into media tokens, media foundation research has the potential to foster AI learning and creativity, paving the way for innovative multimodal applications. This research theme includes topics such as neural codecs, neural communication, computer vision, audio and speech, foundation models, and deep learning fundamentals for multimedia.

- Neural codecs
- Neural communication
- Computer vision
- Audio and speech
- Foundation models
- Deep learning fundamentals for multimedia

Yan Lu (Engaging Lead)
Partner Research Manager, Microsoft Research Asia

We welcome applicants who possess a strong background in multimedia, AI, or related fields, including individuals with experience in neural codecs, computer vision, deep learning, audio and speech, and other related domains. We also expect participants to be passionate about exploring the paradigm shifts in video and audio research and are eager to contribute to the development of advanced AI systems that can enhance human learning and creativity.

Xiulian Peng
Principal Research Manager, Microsoft Research Asia

We welcome applicants with expertise in audio/speech, cross-modal learning, AI, and related fields, especially audio/speech technologies. We expect individuals to be passionate about delving into the paradigm shift within audio/speech-related research and be eager to contribute to the advancement of cutting-edge AI systems that can augment human learning and foster creativity.

Cuiling Lan
Principal Researcher, Microsoft Research Asia

We look forward to collaborating with visiting researchers who have great passion for media foundation research. We warmly welcome applicants who: 1) possess a deep passion for exploring innovative approaches in multimedia and AGI research; 2) have a strong background in AI, multimedia, or related fields, such as computer vision, multi-modal understanding.

Bin Li
Principal Researcher, Microsoft Research Asia

We welcome candidates with expertise in multimedia, AI, and related fields, such as neural codecs, computer vision, and deep learning. We value individuals passionate about investigating video research’s paradigm shifts and contributing to advanced AI systems development, fostering human learning and creativity enhancement. We expect applicants to have a deep understanding of the field and are committed to pushing the boundaries of AI and multimedia research.

3. AI for Sustainability

In the face of accelerating climate change, the urgency of achieving sustainability and carbon neutrality has become a global imperative. Microsoft, recognizing the transformative potential of artificial intelligence (AI), introduces the research theme “AI for Sustainability.” This initiative aims to harness AI’s unparalleled capacity for data analysis, prediction, and system optimization to address pressing environmental challenges. With a focus on four key pillars—carbon emission monitoring, renewable energy generation optimization, battery management and power-grid optimization, and power consumption reduction—we endeavor to create innovative AI solutions that directly contribute to global carbon neutrality goals. Our commitment extends to producing high-impact research papers for prestigious journals and conferences. This initiative not only underscores Microsoft’s dedication to leveraging technological advancements for global good but also sets a benchmark for integrating AI into sustainable practices.

- AI for carbon emission monitoring
- AI for renewable energy generation optimization
- AI for battery management
- AI for power-grid optimization
- AI for power consumption reduction

Jiang Bian (Engaging Lead)
Senior Principal Research Manager, Microsoft Research Asia

I am eager to welcome visiting researchers to Microsoft’s “AI for Sustainability” initiative, a groundbreaking endeavor committed to utilizing artificial intelligence (AI) in addressing crucial environmental challenges and propelling us toward global carbon neutrality. As we navigate through the complexities of accelerating climate change, your expertise and dedication will be invaluable, particularly in our focused areas of carbon emission monitoring, renewable energy optimization, battery and power-grid management, and power consumption reduction. I anticipate a collaborative spirit, innovative thinking, and a steadfast commitment to excellence as we collectively strive to create AI-driven solutions with real-world impact. Your contributions will not only play a pivotal role in advancing our research initiatives but also in achieving tangible results that resonate on a global scale. I am confident that together, we will produce high-impact research, share knowledge, and forge new paths in integrating AI into sustainable practices, setting a new benchmark for technological innovation for the greater good.

Lei Song
Principal Researcher, Microsoft Research Asia

As a passionate advocate for environmental sustainability, I am eager to explore the potential of AI in optimizing renewable energy generation, power-grid management, and power consumption reduction. I am confident that my background in industrial innovations, combined with experience in AI research, will enable us to make meaningful contributions to this collaboration.

The present global energy landscape is undergoing a swift shift from fossil fuels to renewable energy sources, introducing challenges in optimizing efficiency, maintaining a reliable power supply, and enhancing grid management. I am convinced that AI holds the potential to transform the energy sector by tackling these obstacles and fostering more sustainable energy systems. Please feel free to get in touch with us if you share our vision and enthusiasm for these subjects.

Shun Zheng
Senior Researcher, Microsoft Research Asia

I expect to collaborate on research topics related to Lithium-ion batteries, electrical vehicles, and renewable energy solutions. The main topic will be applying cutting-edge machine learning techniques into critical research problems in these domains.

Jinyu Wang
Senior Applied Scientist, Microsoft Research Asia

We warmly welcome visiting researchers who have a keen interest in environmental sustainability and possess expertise in AI, renewable energy, or related fields. If you have experience in areas such as optimizing renewable energy generation, power-grid management, power consumption reduction, and AI-driven innovations in the energy sector, we would be delighted to have you join us. Our visiting researchers are encouraged to be enthusiastic about discovering new ways to leverage AI technology in addressing the challenges faced by the global energy landscape and contribute to the development of more efficient and sustainable energy systems. If you share our passion and dedication to transforming the energy sector through AI-based solutions, we wholeheartedly invite you to collaborate with us in making a significant impact on the future of renewable energy.

Xiaofan Gui
Applied Scientist, Microsoft Research Asia

We welcome applicants with a strong background in renewable energy, electric vehicles, and battery manufacturing, as well as individuals experienced in sustainability and climate change research, ultimately contributing to the development of advanced AI systems that address real-world challenges and promote sustainable practices.

The three research fields mentioned above are the primary focus for collaboration in the 2024 Microsoft Research Asia StarTrack Scholars Program. In addition to these, applicants can also choose a field of their interest from the following options: Heterogeneous Extreme Computing, Intelligent Cloud and Edge, Intelligent Multimedia, Internet Graphics, Machine Learning, Media Computing, Multi-Modal Computing, Natural Language Computing, Networking Infrastructure, Social Computing, Systems, Trustworthy Systems, Visual Computing, Wireless.