Assignment on Responsible Artificial Intelligence from Microsoft

Question 1
Part a
Microsoft’s Mission statement is to empower every person and every organization on the planet
to achieve more. This mission forms the foundation of the company to work on the chance and
power to guarantee that the technology created will always have be profitable to each individual
on the planet as well as the planet.
Part b
In my opinion, Microsoft’s vision for 2020 was to integrate Artificial Intelligence (AI) in dealing
with the increasing volumes of data in the markets. The company emphasized on empowering its
customers and contributing to the increasing markets by helping them to transform to the digital
platforms. The company created Azure, a computer that solves the clients’ physical world
regulatory requirements. The company introduced hyper-scale abilities to its relational database
offering the extensive cloud analytics. This is because the fate of applications will be AI and
therefore the company democratized the AI tools and integrated them with Azure Cognitive
Services to ensure that each developer can be able to use services such as see, translate, hear and
respond in their applications. The company has also inaugurated the new HoloLens 2 which
improves the field of view and relief; this suggests that Microsoft aims at improving the versions
and further integrates them with Dynamics 365 and Azure mixed reality services (Microsoft
2020 Annual Report, n.d.).

Part c
A strategic theme is the sector in which an organization must stand out to ensure that the
company attains its vision. Microsoft’s strategic themes in 2020 are; responsible Artificial
Intelligence (AI), Cyber security and Privacy.
Responsible Artificial Intelligence
Responsible AI refers to a system that joins critical practices together. It also emphasizes on the
good use, transparent and accountable utilization of all AI technologies in a way that is accordant
to the expectations of the user as well as organizational values and public laws and standards.
(Clarke, 2019). Through AI, Microsoft Corporation has been able to deal with some issues such
as emphasizing on the work of computers. Microsoft has also laid down some initiatives in AI
such as cultural heritage. The company has also played a vital role in eliminating the challenges
associated with the use of AI.
Privacy
Recently, the government and large companies have been accessing the personal data of people.
This protection of is a vital requirement and therefore the data must be safely protected. As a
result, Microsoft values its customers’ privacy and the development of its products and policies
is based on the fact each and every customer has their data that has to be rightly protected.
(Microsoft 2019 Annual Report, n.d.).
Cyber security
Cyber security refers to act of protecting systems and programs against cyber or malicious
attacks. Cyber-attacks cause software and hardware damage as well as loss of data in an

organization. From the shareholder letter, it is evident that cyber security is a key issue to all
customers and therefore the company has invested in improving its cyber security. As a result,
the company processes 6.5trillion signals and verifies billions of emails on a daily basis in an
attempt to curb the spread of malware. The company has also teamed up with other cyber
security companies and public sectors to aid in dealing with the daily arising threats. (Microsoft
2019 Annual Report, n.d.).
Part d
The four stages of data visualization process include;
Step 1: Exploration
This is the first stage in the visualization process and the company is tasked with searching for a
data set in no particular order. From Microsoft’s case, virtual reality is a main challenge at this
stage. For example, Microsoft employees interact with data from business in the third dimension
and they may compare different data patterns without any idea thus causing errors.
Step 2: Examination
Examination of the data visualization process is done through structured methods that identify
categories, trends and other links between the data sets. However, the main challenge at
Microsoft remains to be the shortage in technical skills. This is despite the series of innovations
in data analysis at the company. There are inadequate data scientists to work on peoples’ data
accurately before the combination of visuals.
Step 3: Combining

At this step, the data collected is combined to form conclusive evidence. Since a conclusion is
vital, summarization of the main points is not recommended. Combining is vital because the
main points from the analysis need to be drawn. Due to the large volumes of data obtained daily,
not all data is interpreted because many individuals do not keep up with the trends in
technological advancements.
Step 4: Demonstration
At this stage, the examined data is presented in graphs, charts and any other visual methods that
suit the data collected. As the volume of data increases so does the number of visualizations
required. Microsoft graphs have been introduced and linked with Microsoft 365 and Dynamics
365. From the Microsoft shareholder letter, presentation of data requires adequate knowledge of
the presentation methods which is a challenge when trying to provide different solutions in the
market.
Part e
Two (2) interesting points from the data in Microsoft’s 2019 Annual Report are;
Increase in earnings per share
The EPS computation is based on a statistical weight attached to the mean of the due shares
during a period. In the 2019 financial year, Microsoft enjoyed an EPS of $5.06 and this was
almost twice the figure the company had in 2018 which was $2.13 (Microsoft 2019 Annual
Report, n.d.). The increase in EPS in 2019 indicated that Microsoft had a better value because
most investors were willing to invest in the company since there were guaranteed profits in the
company’s shares prices. It was also an indication that the company was continuously growing.

Due to the increase in EPS, Microsoft was able to attract more investor in the 2020 financial
year. This is an important point for the company because it will help attract more investors who
increase the company’s ability to fund its operations and vision to integrate AI. The high EPS at
Microsoft Corporation could also be used in approximating its corporate value and attract more
investors. This will help in accomplishing the company’s vision of integrating AI in its products
to enable data to be exchanged across systems and business insights.
The purchase of GitHub Inc. and LinkedIn Corporation
GitHub is a software developing institution and its purchase boosted developers to achieve more
at every stage of the development cycle. Its purchase was $6.924 billion and this program will
earn Microsoft more income due to increasing market and data collected from businesses
globally. In addition, the program will attract new markets for Microsoft Corporation through the
variety of developer tools and services it offers (Microsoft 2019 Annual Report, n.d.).
Microsoft Corporation also purchased LinkedIn Corporation at $27.007 billion. LinkedIn
Corporation has an increasing number of members that is over 645million. This will attract a
new market for Microsoft and therefore, increase the company’s revenue. The 2019 financial
year saw the company obtain revenues of $125.843billion which is a profit from the
$110.360billion obtained in 2018. Microsoft is continuously growing and continuing to acquire
other companies boosts its chances of fulfilling its vision. In 2019, the company’s operating
income was $42.959billion (Microsoft 2019 Annual Report, n.d.). Therefore, Microsoft should
go on purchasing other companies because it will ensure that the company’s products are used
globally and also help it in dealing with most challenges affecting different sectors of the
economy.

References
Microsoft 2019 Annual Report. (n.d.). Microsoft Annual Report 2019. Retrieved February 8,
2021, from https://www.microsoft.com/investor/reports/ar19/index.html
Clarke, R. (2019). Principles and business processes for responsible AI. Computer Law &
Security Review, 35(4), 410-422.
Kirk, A. (2012). Data Visualization: a successful design process. Packt publishing LTD.
Perry, G. S. (2011). Strategic Themes–How Are They Used and WHY?. Balanced Scorecard
Institute Journal, 1-5.