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Microsoft Forms ‘MAI Superintelligence Team’ to Build Domain-Specific AI Smarter Than Humans
2025-11-07
Microsoft has launched a new initiative aimed at developing artificial intelligence systems that can surpass human intelligence in specific fields, beginning with medical diagnostics. The new division, called the MAI Superintelligence Team, will be led by Mustafa Suleyman, Microsoft’s AI chief and co-founder of DeepMind.
Suleyman described the effort as a bold step toward creating “humanist superintelligence”—AI that achieves superhuman capabilities in well-defined problem areas without posing existential risks. “Humanism requires us to always ask the question: does this technology serve human interests?” he said, emphasizing that the goal is to develop systems that produce tangible real-world benefits rather than pursuing unchecked general intelligence.
Unlike peers such as Meta Platforms and Safe Superintelligence Inc, which are racing toward building general-purpose AI models, Microsoft’s new team will focus on specialist systems that can reach extraordinary levels of reasoning and performance in narrow domains. The project will initially target medical diagnostics, a long-standing focus for Microsoft’s healthcare AI research. Suleyman said the company has a “line of sight to medical superintelligence in the next two to three years,” suggesting that AI could soon revolutionize early disease detection and prevention.
He added that if successful, such technology could significantly improve global health outcomes: “We’ll be able to detect preventable diseases much earlier, increasing life expectancy and giving everybody more healthy years.”
Microsoft plans to invest “a lot of money” into the new team, though Suleyman declined to disclose specific figures. He also noted that Karen Simonyan, a prominent AI researcher, will serve as the team’s chief scientist. The company intends to build the group with both internal talent and new hires from top AI labs worldwide, continuing its strategy of recruiting elite researchers.
While Meta reportedly offered $100 million signing bonuses to attract AI experts this year, Suleyman did not comment on whether Microsoft would engage in similar aggressive recruitment tactics.
He made clear, however, that Microsoft’s ambition lies not in developing “infinitely capable generalist” AI systems—which he believes could be uncontrollable—but in delivering targeted superintelligence that offers “virtually no existential risk whatsoever.” Examples include AI that could solve challenges in battery storage or molecular design, echoing DeepMind’s breakthroughs with AlphaFold, which accurately predicts protein structures.
With the formation of the MAI Superintelligence Team, Microsoft is positioning itself at the forefront of a new AI race—one defined less by the quest for omniscient general intelligence and more by purpose-driven, high-impact innovation aimed squarely at improving human life.
Suleyman described the effort as a bold step toward creating “humanist superintelligence”—AI that achieves superhuman capabilities in well-defined problem areas without posing existential risks. “Humanism requires us to always ask the question: does this technology serve human interests?” he said, emphasizing that the goal is to develop systems that produce tangible real-world benefits rather than pursuing unchecked general intelligence.
Unlike peers such as Meta Platforms and Safe Superintelligence Inc, which are racing toward building general-purpose AI models, Microsoft’s new team will focus on specialist systems that can reach extraordinary levels of reasoning and performance in narrow domains. The project will initially target medical diagnostics, a long-standing focus for Microsoft’s healthcare AI research. Suleyman said the company has a “line of sight to medical superintelligence in the next two to three years,” suggesting that AI could soon revolutionize early disease detection and prevention.
He added that if successful, such technology could significantly improve global health outcomes: “We’ll be able to detect preventable diseases much earlier, increasing life expectancy and giving everybody more healthy years.”
Microsoft plans to invest “a lot of money” into the new team, though Suleyman declined to disclose specific figures. He also noted that Karen Simonyan, a prominent AI researcher, will serve as the team’s chief scientist. The company intends to build the group with both internal talent and new hires from top AI labs worldwide, continuing its strategy of recruiting elite researchers.
While Meta reportedly offered $100 million signing bonuses to attract AI experts this year, Suleyman did not comment on whether Microsoft would engage in similar aggressive recruitment tactics.
He made clear, however, that Microsoft’s ambition lies not in developing “infinitely capable generalist” AI systems—which he believes could be uncontrollable—but in delivering targeted superintelligence that offers “virtually no existential risk whatsoever.” Examples include AI that could solve challenges in battery storage or molecular design, echoing DeepMind’s breakthroughs with AlphaFold, which accurately predicts protein structures.
With the formation of the MAI Superintelligence Team, Microsoft is positioning itself at the forefront of a new AI race—one defined less by the quest for omniscient general intelligence and more by purpose-driven, high-impact innovation aimed squarely at improving human life.
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