Microsoft Elevate

[Music]

Everyone, please welcome Brad Smith.

Good morning everybody. This event

literally brings together people from

across town, from across the country,

and from all around the world, including

in this room here today. So, especially

for those of you who have come a long

ways, thank you so much. And for those

of you who watch online, either live or

later on, no matter what country you're

in, in some ways, the farther away you

are, I think the more important today's

event really is. I'm really excited to

kick it off. Um, I'm going to start by

talking about where we're going and then

I'm going to turn it over to some

friends and you're going to hear from

them as well. Some of them in the room,

some of them connected by video around

the world. So, welcome.

I think it's a fascinating time to get

together. This is in so many ways a

technological era now defined by

artificial intelligence.

The decade has brought faster changes

than I think almost anyone predicted in

the year 2020. And in many ways in the

tech sector, it's become a great race.

It's become an investment race. It's

become an innovation race and it's a

race that people increasingly define in

terminology like artificial general

intelligence, AGI, super intelligence.

Many people want to be first. But what

none of us are talking about the way we

should is what will it mean to win? What

is this race about? What are we trying

to accomplish?

And in a sense at its deepest level that

is what today gives us the opportunity

to really think about. The truth is as

you have heard me and others say

technology has always been a tool and a

weapon. It's inherent in every

technology.

That is going to be true in many ways.

It already is true of AI as well. And

there are many vital questions that the

world is going to need to address. For

example, what are we trying to do? Are

we trying to build machines that are

smarter than people? Or are we trying to

build machines that will help people

become smarter?

That's not a conversation that is yet

getting the attention it deserves. When

we think about the impact on work and

jobs, are we trying to build machines

that will outperform people in their

jobs or machines that will help people

pursue better jobs? These are just two

of the critical questions that the world

needs to address. And as we've thought

about it in recent months, one

conclusion has been clear to us. The

best time to ask these hard questions is

now. The best time to ask these

questions is before the technology

becomes even more powerful and

pervasive. The best time to ask these

questions is before the technology

answers them for us. That is what the

world needs from all of us. And so one

of the things that we're using today to

do is put a clear stake in the ground to

really define for us at Microsoft what

we want to do. And as we've talked a lot

about this, as we've thought a lot about

this, as we've debated this at the

highest levels of the company, what

we've come to is a conclusion that in

some ways I think should be obvious for

anybody who cares about people. We may

love technology and we do, but we need

to build technology that puts people

first.

And that's an easy thing to say, but it

is a hard thing to do because it has a

great many layers and nuance that

require a lot of thought and collective

action. Now, the interesting thing for

us as we at Microsoft think about these

questions, we look to the future and we

have ideas about what we'll see, but no

one has a crystal ball.

No one knows exactly how technology is

going to impact the world as it moves

forward. But interestingly for a company

like Microsoft with which this year

celebrated its 50th anniversary,

the truth is this is a journey we've

always been on because the heart of what

Microsoft has always been doing is

creating software that changes the way

people work, the way people write, the

way people communicate, the way people

calculate.

We have been on this journey for five

decades. I embody that as a person who

said in 1986 I wouldn't join a law firm

unless I could have my own computer. And

the answer was why on earth would you

want that? We have secretaries who do

that. But we have learned a lot from the

50-year journey we've been on. And while

it doesn't give us anything close to

clairvoyance,

it does help us discern certain

insights. One of the greatest and most

important insights in our view is that

the history of technology, especially in

terms of its societal benefits,

requires not only great innovation, it

requires what economists refer to as

diffusion. the spreading of technology

so that it can become accessible and

truly useful to everyone and not just a

few. And this has been true not only of

computing and computers and the

internet. It has been true of almost

every general purpose technology, what

economists think of as technologies that

get used across the economy.

since the first generalpurpose

technology was created in many ways the

printing press but especially over the

last 150 years with electricity

and before we look forward towards AI

it's worth looking backwards and

remembering the lessons from electricity

it was first harnessed by Thomas Edison

in 1878 to illuminate the first light

bulb

It first lit up a city in lower

Manhattan when a power plant started

operating in 1882.

Now, think about that for a moment. This

technology that would change the world

first brought illumination to an entire

building and an entire neighborhood in

1882,

143 years ago.

Now look at the world today. This is the

way it looks every single night.

What is most striking about this picture

is that even after more than 14 decades,

there are more than 700 million people,

double the population of the entire

United States that don't have it. They

still don't have access to electricity.

43% of the people who live in Africa,

the continent where the population is

growing faster than anywhere else, still

do not have access to electricity.

In many ways, I think this is the

greatest tragedy in the history of

technology because almost everything

that divides the world between a

prosperous set of industrial countries

and a still developing group of

countries in the global south was shaped

by the fact that power plants were built

in some countries and not in others.

This is a great cautionary tale that we

need to keep in mind as we look to the

future.

One of the things that has changed the

most dramatically about Microsoft is

we've moved as a company, as our

industry has moved as an industry from

one that spent almost every dollar it

earned on employing people to what is in

fact the greatest capital and

infrastructure investment in the history

of global infrastructure.

This year alone, we are spending more

than $80 billion dollar to build out

these data centers across this country

and in 40 other countries around the

world, including in Africa.

And this is vital if AI is truly going

to create opportunities for everyone.

But the more we've thought about it and

the more we've studied it, the more it

has become clear to us that

infrastructure alone is not enough. In

fact, one of the things that we love to

do at Microsoft is read. And one of the

things that I and several of the other

senior leaders love to read is history.

So, we definitely got attracted to a

book that came out about this time last

year called Technology and the Rise of

Great Powers by a professor at George

Washington University, Jeffrey Ding. And

what he does is he charts the industrial

revolutions and talks about diffusion.

And one of the most important insights

he comes to is one that we've lived with

for 50 years in the digital revolution.

It's that diffusion is in fact driven

through skilling. It makes sense. People

need to have the skills to put the

technology to work in every sector of

the economy. So if you look at the first

industrial revolution in England,

England raced ahead in putting iron

working into the economy because it had

technical apprenticeships and technical

institutes that trained more people

faster than any other country. And

interestingly in the second industrial

revolution really around electricity and

machine tools it was the United States

that raced ahead because it had

mechanical engineers through land grant

universities and industry standards. And

in the third industrial revolution, the

50 years that we at Microsoft have

worked and lived through, it's really

been computer science. Computer science

and computer fluency taught to employees

by employers, but even more than that,

computer science in education.

starting with universities and

ultimately spreading as we'll discuss up

and down the ladder and increasingly to

reach kids of all ages.

One of the great lessons of history is

that you can never start too soon and

it's never too late to try to catch up.

And I think one of the great examples is

what's called the moral act. This is a

piece of legislation that Abraham

Lincoln in the United States while

fighting a civil war

took time to sign on July the 2nd, 1862.

And it dedicated land to be provided to

the states to create land grant colleges

that would focus on agriculture and the

mechanical arts.

No one could have imagined on that day

in 1862 that 30 years later the United

States would have more mechanical

engineers than any other country as

these colleges spread across the nation.

And in fact, what the economic data

shows

is that this was indispensable for the

United States to create prosperity, to

become the manufacturing leader of the

world in the 20th century, and to

overtake the United Kingdom as the

strongest economy globally. I think that

gives us the opportunity to ask in every

country and in every company and

especially in the tech sector what will

our generation do because this is the

opportunity we have and today's event

more than anything else is our

opportunity at Microsoft as a company to

share what has been months in the making

the planning and the decisions and the

investment ments we are making. That's

why today we're launching a new part of

Microsoft Microsoft Elevate.

Putting people first.

This is a name that people will not only

come to recognize but I hope come to

love because Microsoft Elevate has an

opportunity I believe to do something

that is truly unique. It brings together

our teams from Microsoft philanthropies,

from the Tech for Social Impact team,

and the Microsoft K14

education team. Our work for schools and

community colleges in the United States

and around the world. a global team that

gives us a new opportunity to put people

first to bring AI technology and skills

to everyone. So what will it do? How

will it do it? Well, first we are going

to run Microsoft Elevate with a unique

non-commercial business model and it is

and will become the next generation of

Microsoft's corporate philanthropy. I

believe that we have the opportunity to

write a new chapter in the history of

corporate philanthropy writ large. I

know we will write that chapter for

Microsoft because part of what we will

do is what we've been doing over the

last decade for nonprofits.

We will donate and we will sell and we

will reinvest. We will reinvest a share

of the profits that come in this

business into our nonprofit and societal

programs. It's what makes it different

from our commercial business. In fact,

it's really a diversified group with

five interconnected functions. It has

philanthropic donations of cash and

technology. It provides the sales and

technical support to schools, to

community colleges, for nonprofits

around the world. It will work

handinhand with our product groups to

provide input so that we can create

products that better meet the needs of

kids and of teachers, of parents, of

nonprofits.

It will, as you'll hear, pursue a global

skills training initiative to bring AI

skills to the world. And as we've done

in other areas, it will be an advocate.

It will be an advocate for public

policies in the United States and around

the world to bring AI training and

education and skilling to people to

ensure that individuals have access to

these skilling opportunities. that

financial aid, for example, is more

broadly available for people who have a

job today but may want to go get a new

credential at a community college, for

example, so they can harness the skills

that will propel their career forward.

We're backing this up not only with more

than 300 people and more that we'll be

adding, but with new investments.

Between now and 2030, Microsoft Elevate

will provide $4 billion

in donations. Donations of cash,

donations of compute, donations of

technology to help people use AI in

their lives. And just over the next two

years, our goal will be to train, as

you'll hear, more than 20 million people

around the world.

and we will harness our global

government affairs teams. One of the

things you'll hear a little bit about is

the great partnership over the last

dozen years between Microsoft and

Code.org where we really supported

code.org and went from stateto state in

the United States and made the case to

get computer science into the nation's

schools especially in the high schools.

We will do the same thing so that the

students today around the world have

access to the skills and training they

will need.

But ultimately, if we're going to put

people first, which needs to be our

lynch pin, we need to partner for

people. And we need to recognize that

there's a lot of different people all

around the world, different ages,

different nationalities, cultures,

languages backgrounds.

and different skills will be needed for

different people. One of the things that

we're just in the early days of really

understanding is just the different ways

that AI will change education. You know,

what it will mean to give people the

basic skills to be productive using AI

the way we all are with a text message

or an email or a PowerPoint deck today.

We look at computer science and we ask

what will AI bring to computer science.

Will we see it evolve into AI

engineering or will it be something

different? What will it mean for say

business students, business leaders as

we think about using AI to strengthen

business processes, AI systems design?

There are many different skills that

we're all going to need to work together

to pursue. But

I think there's also a north star that

should guide us. It's a north star that

might sound unusual coming from a tech

company, but I think it's a north star

that matters most. We need to use AI to

help us think more, not less.

We should learn the lessons from social

media. Think about how it came to life.

And imagine those days that you can

probably remember when you first use

something like Facebook and you realize

that this social media could connect you

with people halfway around the world

with people you hadn't heard from in a

decade or two that you went to school

with. The great promise of social media

is how it would connect people more

closely together. And in many ways it

has.

But now

also think about a picture that we've

all seen more than once. a person on a

phone interacting with a social media

application with something that's been

created by a friend far away while

they're ignoring the people from their

own family sitting next to them on the

couch.

We need to apply that lesson

so that we can use AI to help students,

to help workers, to help us all learn

more. but then think harder about what

they learn to write better

but not by just taking what AI creates

as a draft and this is in part an issue

of technology

but it's about a lot more than

technology

because it's about culture it's about

habits it's about practice frankly it's

about the philosophy of life and it's

not new in the 21st century. It was

actually 23 centuries ago that Aristotle

wrote about this and really defined

something that should matter in our own

day. Think about work. It's a lot more

than a paycheck.

It's about living a life that gives

people a sense of purpose, that enables

them to learn, to be productive. We need

to ensure that AI advances these things

because at its best it can, but only if

we're broadminded and we think hard

about it.

There are a lot of questions and as

we've talked about at inside Microsoft,

the first thing that we've concluded is

the most obvious of all. We don't have

all the answers. In fact, no one does.

That's why so many people are going to

have a key role to play. It's why when

we think about the future of education

and what it means for kids, some of the

voices that matter most are from

teachers. And it's why we need the kind

of partnership that not only equips

teachers with technology, but gives

teachers a voice

and puts us in a position to listen and

learn from them so that we can use those

insights to shape where our technology

is going. It's why today we're not only

launching

Microsoft Elevate, but a second new

group, the Microsoft AI Economy

Institute.

It's part of our AI for good lab. And

just as we're creating a new form of

corporate philanthropy, this is a new

form of a corporate think tank. We

started working on this and brought it

to life in January. So we have six

months of work now under our belt as we

launch it publicly today. It's focused

on sponsoring rigorous independent

academic research that really explores

how AI is reshaping work, education,

productivity.

It's about giving academics an

opportunity to come together to write,

to share insights, to learn, and to

focus on how we turn those insights

rapidly into realworld action. It's

dedicated to sharing with the world the

ideas that come together. We will have

fast publication cycles. In fact, on

June 24th and 25th, we had our first

convening of academics from around the

world who have been working on papers,

assessing how AI is changing the study

of computer science, how it's changing

the nature of work, what people need to

learn, what people need to put together

in order to pursue a more successful

career, not only in the United States,

but around the world and in the global

south.

It's led as I mentioned as part of the

AI for good lab under Juan Levista who

heads the AI for good lab. Juan would be

here today but he is in Geneva today at

the United Nations AI for good

conference which literally has brought

people around the world. But let me show

you a short video because he beams in

with something that was recorded just a

little while ago.

Good morning from Geneva. I'm Juan

Lavita, corporate vice president and

chief data scientist at Microsoft,

joining you virtually from the UN AI for

good global summit. Here, global leaders

are exploring how AI can help solve

global challenges from education to

climate change. Today, I'm proud to

introduce the Microsoft AI Economy

Institute, a new corporate think tank

expanding the scope of our AI for good

lab. This institute brings together

experts from across sectors to explore

some of the most important questions of

our time. How will AI reshape society?

work and learning. How do we ensure AI

benefits everyone? The institute builds

on the work by our AI for good lab where

we have seen the power of collaboration

bringing subject matter experts, data

scientists, social entrepreneurs and

policy makers together to solve real

world problems. Though we're formally

launching today, our team has already

begun work with our first cohort of

researchers, diving into how AI is

transforming education and the workforce

and how do we prepare students, teachers

and communities for what's ahead. These

are big questions and no single company,

government or scholar can answer them

alone. And with our partners at Elevate

and across Microsoft, we can bring these

ideas to life in ways that will ensure

we are building AI solutions that put

people first. Here's a glimpse of what

we're building together. Thank you.

Economists identify in the history of

humanity many different generalpurpose

technologies from the printing press to

the internet from electricity to the PC.

We believe that AI is the next general

purpose technology but history teaches

that it is not the invention itself or

the technology that matters but is how

the technology is diffused across

society.

At the AI Economic Institute, our

mission is clear to advance independent

research and excellent solutions

societies everywhere can adapt to the

economic and social change AI brings.

AI is going to lead to a lot of economic

growth, but that growth doesn't come for

free. Like we don't just get to plug AI

into the economy and then suddenly

there's growth. Research is needed on

this topic because we are at an exciting

point in time witnessing the emergence

of a new economy requiring different

skills.

>> The research we're doing with the

institute is really around what types of

training reskilling and upskilling are

necessary to help people be able to get

jobs in the AI boosted economy. Part of

the real challenge is how do we actually

prepare students for a job force where

in 5 years things are going to change on

them. Right?

>> So here we bring together AI experts,

academic visionaries in multiple fields,

policy makers and business leaders in a

space where diverse perspective guide

how AI transform work, education and

society itself.

We in education we go to education

conference and then those business

people go to business conferences and

now like we have an opportunities to

come from different areas to share like

our perspectives.

>> These partnerships gives a room for

different stakeholders with different

lenses to work hand in hand and to have

a more holistic solution. What we can

definitely learn is more engagement with

private industry partners like this one.

The United States and institutions at

higher education institutions definitely

have a a lead compared to to many also

leading European institutions.

>> The AI Economy Institute is more than a

research hub. It's a space for future

thinking. A place that empowers experts

to envision and realize a future where

AI benefits all.

>> I'm optimistic about where generative AI

is leading society. big technological

shifts open up a whole wealth of

opportunities and efficiency gains and

that on net that's going to be a good

thing.

>> There's a whole range of different

responses that we've seen imagining all

of these new possible futures for their

disciplines where they're thinking about

AI as a tool for new kinds of

creativity, new kinds of workflows. This

is what our job is, right? Imagining

those futures of society. That is what

we're supposed to do.

>> Our journey is just beginning. We invite

everyone scholars businesses policy

makers, and communities to join us.

Together, let's build a future where AI

creates opportunity for everyone.

You can see how that work gives us the

opportunity to connect new learning with

just about everything that will matter

in terms of AI societal impact. But

isn't this isn't just about learning and

sharing what we learn. It's about

applying what we learn on a day-to-day

basis and on a global basis including

and perhaps especially in skilling. So

with that, let me turn the stage over to

somebody I've worked with, you know,

since 2014. First as a nonprofit leader

and now as a leader for several years

inside Microsoft, the person who's

leading this skilling work for Microsoft

Elevate, Naria Santaluchia. Naria,

[Applause]

>> thank you so much, Brad, for that very

kind introduction. It's truly truly an

honor to be here today with everyone in

the room with folks watching across all

around the world to introduce Microsoft

Elevate. So, as Brad mentioned, we

believe that any conversation about AI

and jobs needs to begin with people. And

honestly, that's why I love my job.

Because every day while the world is

changing at such a daunting pace, our

team, the newly minted Elevate Skills

team, we get to work every day. Yay. And

many of them are here today. So, please

uh introduce yourselves to them. We get

to put people at the center of this

immense shift.

It's that teacher in rural India who's

using AI to personalize learning for

students. It's the nonprofit in Brazil

leveraging the power of AI to predict

the programs that are going to have the

most community impact. Or that trainer

in Nigeria that's preparing people for

jobs that didn't even exist five years

ago. and labor organizations across the

US that are helping workers navigate

AIdriven career transitions.

What these incredible individuals and

organizations all have in common is that

they're focused on helping people

succeed in the AI economy.

And we we want to help too. So that's

why today we're kicking off the Elevate

Academy. The Elevate Academy has an

ambitious goal to help 20 million people

earn an in- demand credential in the

next two years. That's 20 million

credentials for teachers who are

preparing students for the future, for

nonprofit leaders addressing the needs

of their communities and for workers who

are driving the innovation that we need

every single day.

And we're going to do this with a tried

andrue approach, partnering at the local

level to enable lasting impact. Like

Brad said, you can probably agree that

in times of great uncertainty and

change, people aren't going to turn to

technology companies for the solutions.

They're going to turn to the

institutions, the people within the

communities that they know and trust,

the teachers who've taught them, union

leaders who fought for them, nonprofit

workers who know their struggles. And

when we combine that depth of community

knowledge with AI's potential, that's

when real breakthroughs can happen. And

today, I'm so excited to announce a few

new partnerships that we're going to be

launching as a part of Elevate Academy.

These partnerships represent the kind of

work that we're going to be doing in the

coming years together.

So, first and foremost, Elevate Academy

will focus on training teachers to use

AI and improve learning outcomes and

help their students as well leverage

these powerful tools to be more human

and more impactful. And just yesterday,

we're so excited to launch a new

National Academy for AI Instruction with

the American Federation of Teachers, the

AFT. So this program, it's the first

collaboration of its kind between a

national union and global technology

companies, and it's going to provide

access to AI training and workshops for

1.4 million AFT teachers. It's al also

going to create a state-of-the-art

Manhattan facility that's designed to

transform how AI is taught and

integrated into US classrooms. And you

know, this is going to be a gamecher for

teachers like Mike Harris. He's here

with us today.

He is with the United Teachers of

Witchah in Kansas. Mike and his peers

have really been leveraging AI and and

using these tools to help students with

special education needs. It's such

important work and I know that this new

program with a is going to build on what

Mike and his team has done, but also

help millions of teachers around around

the world and around the country. So,

thank you so much, Mike, for being here.

In addition to our partnership with AFT,

we're also pleased to announce a new

partnership with the National Education

Association, which is our country's

other great teachers union. Our

partnership with the NEA will complement

their professional development efforts

and will advance AI fluency and training

to NEA's three million members. So

collectively, it's very important, as

Brad said, that we really want to

leverage teacher voice into our

education program. So we'll also invite

aft and NAS teachers to join the

Microsoft Educator Insider program so

that we can really inform the

development of our own AI tools and make

sure that they're right for educational

settings, co-creating with teachers.

So, in addition to all the US teachers,

we really want to scale and work around

the world. Um, and we're so excited

about this. So, one way we're going to

do this is a new partnership with ISTY,

ASCD. They're an international leader in

teacher training and credentiing. And

recently, the European Commission, OECD,

and Code.org's Teach AI created a new

framework for AI literacy for education.

And together with ISTY ASCD, we're going

to develop a course and a credential for

AI on AI literacy that is aligned to

that framework, an internationally

recognized standard. And I really want

to thank Richard Colada who's here. He's

the CEO of SCSD.

They they had a huge conference last

week, but he's still here to celebrate

with us. So, thank you so much for the

partnership.

But doesn't stop there. That's not all.

We're going beyond K through2 education

as well. We're going to provide skilling

pathways for current and future workers

as well. And we really can't think of a

better way to do this than to train

students and faculty at community

colleges, technical and vocational

training institutions and apprenticeship

programs here in the US as well as

around the world. We're very excited to

launch two new partnerships in this area

as well. We have Christina Sass who's

the CEO of the International Youth

Foundation

as well as Jen Worth who's the head of

workforce for the American colleges

American Community Colleges American

Association of Community Colleges and

both are here today with us. Together,

we're going to provide technical

enablement as well as AI training to

faculty and students at US community

colleges with the AACC, but also um to

vocational technical institutions across

10 countries in the global south with

IYF. These are critical partnerships can

help accelerate AI adoption, create

opportunities for everyone regardless of

their background.

And finally, and Brad mentioned I used

to run a nonprofit, uh, so this is near

and dear to me, but we're going to

continue to build on our long-standing

work with nonprofit organizations as

well as intergovernmental organizations

around the world. This is nonprofits

like Year 13 in Australia, FJS in

Germany, and Nova Escola in Brazil.

Their leaders are also here today. So,

please give a round of applause all

around the world.

These incredible organizations are

working to skill students and teachers

and create opportunity for everyone in

their respective countries. And we're

also going to continue partnering with

um global inter intergovernmental

organizations like the Trust for the

Americas where we've been training women

for decades on digital skills and most

recently on AI skills. And of course,

we'll continue our partnership with

UNICEF, building on two very successful

programs, the learning passport and the

passport to earning, which have already

collectively reached 14 million learners

across 47 countries. Uh, and have also

reached 2.7 million teachers as well

with digital and AI skills. And those

leaders are here too. So, I think we got

to give them some love as well.

So to wrap it up, it's clear the only

way we're going to get to where we need

to go is to put people first. And that

starts with putting our partners first.

Together, we can help build those new

skills, create new opportunities, and

find new ways to thrive at the scale

that this moment demands. I just want to

say a huge heartfelt thank you to our

partners here who traveled here, but

also all of you who are watching online.

You inspire us every day. We get to

vicariously live through you and make a

difference in people's lives. And you

are the ones who are going to bring

Elevate Academy to life. So, thank you

so much. And speaking of partners, I

would love to welcome bra back Brad to

the stage to announce a few additional

partnerships. Thank you.

Thanks, Naria. You can see while why

I've hired her, not just once, but twice

since I chair the board that she first

worked with with the nonprofit. Um,

there's two things I would like to

underscore about the partnership

concept. One is I think one thing we've

learned is I sometimes say within

Microsoft, we do our best work when

we're working with partners. But it's

not just working with I always say look

if we're trying out and hoping to get an

award in a movie we want to be the best

supporting actor. It is the nonprofit

that is the best actor because it is the

nonprofits around the world and teachers

around the world in schools that are

really working directly with the people

who are the beneficiaries. And we're

bringing the power of technology and

financial and other resources to these

groups. But the other thing I would say

is an even more powerful insight.

There are great partnerships everywhere.

But what it requires is that one have a

curiosity and open mind about where one

can meet somebody new.

There are some potential partners that

some in the tech sector have run away

from.

But we've walked towards them and we now

walk with them. A good example is

organized labor with the AFL CIO, with

the American Federation of Teachers,

with the Communication Workers of

America, with the International

Brotherhood of Electrical Workers and

many more.

If we're going to give workers a voice

in where AI goes,

there are very few organizations that

are better positioned to help do that

than organizations like these in the

United States and around the world. And

it's out of those relationships that

we're able now to raise our ambition.

Another great example is faith-based

organizations, organizations that meet

people where they are. So, we've now had

the opportunity to interact with two

popes, with the Vatican, with faiths of

many backgrounds and cultures and

nationalities.

Faiths that have a critical role to play

in helping people think about what it

means to be human and what is required

to ensure that AI truly serves humanity.

And there's other people that we've

encountered over the years that some of

whom you've seen with us, but you

wouldn't naturally think of standing

next to Microsoft or being a part of

what they do. And some of them have

emerged as enormously influential in our

own decisionmaking.

One of the most influential and helpful

to me personally has been Trevor Noah.

Not just a comedian obviously, but

someone who has his own foundation. Let

me show you first a short clip for those

of you who are not familiar with what

we've done together of all of the many

things we've done together going back to

2016. So roll the video.

>> I said I'm going to be having a

conversation with Brad Smith and he's

like Brad Pitts? I said no Brad Smith. I

mean I've known you for how many years

has it been now?

>> Since October 2016.

>> Yeah. 2016. Wow. What a different time

that was.

>> Trevor, welcome to Microsoft.

>> Thank you so much for having me. You

love tech. I love tech. You love the

world. I love the world. Welcome to the

show.

>> Thank you, Trevor.

>> Tools and weapons, the promise and the

peril of the digital age.

>> You have to think about how we can use

technology as a tool to help us solve

some of the biggest problems that really

confront us.

>> Thank you for joining me once again in

the land of social distancing.

>> I hope next time I see you, I see you in

person.

>> I'm excited to come out to hang out with

everybody at Xbox, looking at how we

create the next generation of games that

keeps us connected.

>> What do you think is unique or special

about the gaming community? It bridges,

divides, and connects people across a

larger spectrum than I think anything

else. Most of the conversations we'll

have are question based, funny enough.

>> Our chief questions officer. So, thank

you.

>> I've had the extreme privilege of

traveling around the world with

Microsoft looking at AI for good. I'm at

John's Hopkins Medicine. How can we use

AI to help radiologists? I'm at the

headquarters of Scenes. What can we do

to help the most vulnerable communities

to both prepare themselves and recover

from the effects of climate change

>> in India? Seeing a different way to not

only solve a problem but even see a

problem.

>> I appreciate what you have done but more

importantly and broadly that breath of

perspective that you bring.

[Music]

So,

let me bring in live with the best that

a technology connection can offer,

Trevor Noah, who's in Santa Monica.

Trevor.

Okay, we see your lips moving. Uh, let's

see. Can we get audio?

>> He's I I love the umbrella. It's keeping

you in the shade, Trevor. There we go. I

think we hear you. Do you want to try

again?

Hello. Hello.

>> Hello. Can

>> I can hear you perfectly.

>> Good. Hey. Well, we don't have the

world's highest fidelity video

connection, but let's spend a minute and

just connect. Uh Trevor, thank you for

the advice you've given. It's actually

shaped what we're launching today. Um

but let me give you an opportunity to

say a few words as you think about what

we're trying to do.

Oh, well, first of all, can you hear me

now? I could I could hear you perfectly

the whole time.

>> Good. That's great. Yes.

>> And that was a wonderful video to watch,

Brad. I felt like we were at like an

anniversary celebrating our journey

together.

Um soulations.

I wanted to join you live even though

we're on a shoot with the Santa Monica

Pier. Um, so that's what you see behind

me is all the security and everything.

But the reason I wanted to join, I want

to say congratulations. I know it's been

a long journey been a really thoughtout

journey and to see elevate coming to

that I I hope you and the team are

really proud of because the next stage

of what AI becomes but what AI becomes

with the people who are actually using

it. So thank you very much. Thank you

for having me and congratulations on

making this day a reality. Well, and

Trevor, we'll not only work together and

you'll be uh you know in Seattle next

week um and we'll have an opportunity to

talk more about where Elevate is going,

but um we're also partnering as we have

before with your foundation. Can you say

a word about the Trevor Noah Foundation

and its work and then we'll talk a

little bit about what we're going to do

as we go forward.

as you know because you've been to South

Africa and you've seen some of the work

we do. The Tre Trevor Foundation as I as

I see it is is an organization that

tries to think about how we can solve

systemic issues in education

um at an accelerated pace that a

government couldn't necessarily you know

so what we're trying to do is always

figure out how do we get learners to the

place where they could and should be

over the years we've come to realize

that we can also extend that to teachers

how do we get

teachers who are helping the learners

the best tools they need the best

education they need and the best support

systems. Um that and so initially if you

remember we teamed up with Microsoft and

so you know we started robotics labs we

created many AI and schools that had

never had them and that has dramatically

changed how these schools in South

Africa see technology and their futures.

Uh but now as we look at the dawn of AI,

I think we're on the precipice of

something really powerful if we if we

get it right. And that is an opportunity

to scale educationally

before. You know, an opportunity to

connect every single learner to the

technology and to the information that

they need in a way that you you couldn't

because you just don't have the

but we still have thousands and

thousands and thousands of students who

need those individual teachers. And so

by combining great teachers with a great

tool that connects them to students, I

hope we get to see an amplification of

everything that we're doing. I hope we

get

it no longer becomes you couldn't get a

good education or you couldn't afford

the education that was for you. It's

more because of AI and that we've

infused into it, we're able to get every

students education that they deserve.

>> Well, one of the things that Yeah. Round

of applause.

One of the things that I'm excited that

we're also announcing today uh is a $2

million grant to the Trevor Noah

Foundation where we're going to work

together and support you and the team

there as you expand to more schools. Uh

as you mentioned uh I was there, others

from Microsoft were there for the launch

of the foundation at the new nation

school. Trevor's mother was there as

well. She is a force of nature. You can

see where Trevor picked up a lot of his

wit, I have to say. and it's just been a

wonderful partnership and this will

enable you and it will enable us to help

you bring AI to more students in South

Africa. So, thank you Trevor. I'll look

forward to sitting with you on stage at

an event here in Seattle uh next week uh

on Monday. So, thank you and uh uh we'll

let you get back to the shoot that you

took time away from. So, thank you very

much.

So with that, one final conversation

before we bring this to a close. Not

just one of our most important partners,

but I think one of the most important

leaders on the planet over the last

dozen years to bring coding and computer

science to more people. Hadti Parti, the

founder and CEO of code.org. Hottie, why

don't you join me on stage?

Wow. Thank you.

>> Well, thank Hey, thank you for being

here, Hottie. It's a real pleasure. Uh

it's been fantastic, you know, to have

you. Um you have brought the hour of

code, which is just, you know, the the

tip of the spear uh of what you've done

over the last dozen years and what

code.org or has done to now people

who've used it more than a billion

times. It's been an amazing journey. Why

don't you tell us a little bit about the

this journey that took an entrepreneur

and at one time a Microsoft employee to

do something that has really reached and

helped so many people.

>> Thank you so much. First of all, I

should say thank you Brad for talking me

up so much. The work we've done has only

been possible thanks to hundreds of

partners, many many many supporters and

donors and especially millions of

teachers. Uh but you know 12 years ago

in 2013 uh you know the world was in a

place where everybody could see the

importance of technology but computer

science the educational you know

background to create that technology was

only available to the few. And we

realized together uh the importance of

this gap of using education to

democratize access to computer science.

And we started this campaign globally

called the hour of code as the tip of

the spear as you say to just bring one

hour of introduction to computer

science. And the hour of code has led to

almost two billion student engagements

over the last 12 years. uh trillions of

lines of code have been written by

students and collectively you know we

created this organization initially with

Microsoft funding and with support not

only from Microsoft but from the entire

rest of the technology industry we've

introduced hundreds of millions of

students to computer science in every

single country in the world we've

changed courses in schools at the

district level at the state level and

truly change curriculum to increasingly

make computer science a fixture in K

through2 education and that work would

have only been possible thanks to

Microsoft support but also the support

of many many other technology companies

supporters donors volunteers and most

importantly the teachers collectively we

trained hundreds of thousands of

teachers not just in the United States

but around the globe in teaching

computer science to every student and uh

you know I'm just incredibly lucky and

proud to have been to played a role in

what has become a global movement to

teach computer science in every school

and to every student.

>> So, we're at this moment of transition.

What does the future of computer science

look like in your view when a future

with AI?

>> So, that's a really great question. It's

certainly a question that anybody

working in the computer science field is

thinking about. Everybody knows that AI

is going to change education. It's going

to change both how we teach and what we

teach. But this is nowhere more obvious

than in the world of computer science.

And the biggest change I'd say is that

computer science for the last, you know,

50 years has been has had a focal point

around coding. That's been sort of like

you learn computer science so that you

create code. There's other things you

learn like data science and algorithms

and cyber security, but the focal point

has been coding. And we're now in a

world where the focal point of computer

science is shifting to AI. It's we all

know that AI can write much of the code.

You don't need to worry about where did

the semicolons go or did I close the

parentheses or whatnot. The busy work of

computer science is going to be done by

the computer itself. the creativity, the

thinking, the systems design, the

engineering, the algorithm planning, the

the security concerns, privacy concerns,

ethical concerns. Those parts of

computer science are going to be what

remains with a focal point around AI.

And what's going to be important is to

make sure in education we ma give

students the tools so they don't just

become passive users of AI but so that

they learn how AI works what are its

limitations and how to build with AI how

to create technology so that students

learn not just to code but how to think

critically how to design responsibly and

how to lead in an age of artificial

intelligence

>> and I just think that that is such such

an extraordinarily important concept

because if you know coding uh is at the

forefront of how AI may be reshaping

work, there's a really interesting and I

believe at its best inspiring

opportunity for all of us. Um, I've

always thought that the most compelling

quote from Steve Jobs when asked why he

was so successful was his comment that

he said he worked every day at the

intersection of engineering and the

liberal arts. And as somebody who's sort

of worn the liberal art the liberal arts

hat inside Microsoft on the senior

leadership team for so long, I think

that's where the future is going for so

many people. And it's really an exciting

future because it gives people and it

will require that people learn how to

think about all of the societal impacts

of what they're doing. And as you I

think quite rightly put it, if you can

spend less time placing a semicolon,

you can spend more time being creative

in a broader way. That is the

opportunity. But one of the things,

Hottie, that I think has always been

great about your work is you've been

really emphatic in creating a call to

action and a sense of urgency. you

that's what you did more than a decade

ago. Um it's why you created the hour of

code. You said here we need to draw

people in. Um what's needed now? What is

your view of what the world needs to do

in an urgent way? What do you want to

contribute to that? So in terms of what

you said in terms of the sense of

urgency, um the the thing I think about

is how much how different a world we can

live in, you know, reflecting on your

own comments about diffusion and the

industrial revolution and the difference

between you know that map you showed of

the lights around the world. I think for

everybody that was just a special moment

to think how did it take 143 years and

we still have a gap in access and that

gap is critical uh to basically think

about upfront as the sort of

revolutionizing of the world happens

with AI and that gap is ultimately an

education gap. There's so many people

who think of AI as basically they are

creating the AI and we are the users and

there's this gap of the us and the them

and they have the power and we're here

just as passive consumers of technology

and you know we I imagine a world where

everybody can be not just a passive

consumer of technology but a creator of

technology and the gap between them and

us is an education gap. It's about power

and knowledge is power. If you know how

AI works, how to create it, you can be

an actual participant in this economy.

Whereas, if you're simply a passive

user, you're basically kind of

effectively being programmed by the AI.

Uh, you know, this is similar to the

comment you made about social media as

well. We all want a world where the

technology works for us and we're not

working for it. And understanding that

technology at a technical level, at a

deeper educational level rather than

just being fed it is what's important

there. And this means not just for

students, it especially means for

teachers to learn how to use AI, but

also be masters of it really. Uh, and

whether that's in the teaching practice

or as a student or learner. And what's

critical is to make sure this is

democratically spread to every student

in every classroom, not just the halves.

The the gap between having AI literacy

and the ability to create with AI is

going to be the new digital divide. And

it's a divide that we can think upfront.

How do we minimize? How do we make sure

every student in every school has

access?

>> Well, one of the things uh that I think

you've made a little bit famous uh is

your hat, your cap. Uh if you see a

picture of Hottie Parti, doesn't matter

where in the world he is, doesn't matter

who he's standing next to, he's wearing

the code cap. And you know, we thought

we'd have a little bit of fun with where

things are going and where you're going.

Um The last 12 years have been about the

hour of code, but the future involves

the hour of AI.

>> So

[Applause]

tell us about what's coming the world's

way.

>> Um, so we want to announce three

different initiatives that are really

going to redefine the work of code.org

for the next decade. uh and I should say

in advance that even our organizational

name at some point is going to morph

around these three initiatives. The

first is the policy work that we do.

Over the last 12 years, code.org with

tremendous support from Microsoft helped

pass 300 policies around the United

States and we helped over 80 countries

announced initiatives around computer

science. And we're going to redouble

those efforts to make AI literacy with a

focus on what you called AI engineering

something that's part of the policy

agenda so that every student in every

school at a policy level at a systems

level has support to learn computer

science and AI as part of their school

education to really make this a high

school graduation requirement so that no

student graduates school without at

least a basic understanding of what's

going to be part of the new liberal arts

background.

The second uh effort is a new course

called AI foundations. So code.org's ex

is ex existing computer science courses

are by far the most popular way computer

science is taught in schools. But this

new course AI foundations is going to

teach computer science as I mentioned

with a focal point on AI in terms of

what is the technical knowledge

everybody should have to not just be a

passive consumer of AI. And we aim to

have this course taught and spread to

over 500,000 students a year. So you set

your your two million goal of two

million students in the next two years.

We're hoping to carry our share about

1/4 of that towards that goal. Uh and

this new course I believe is going to

become one of the most important high

school courses a student can learn. Uh

and then the third thing as you showed

with your hat is we are renaming the

hour of code to an hour of AI. Uh

the the hour of code is a movement that

you know the idea for it was sprung in

my bedroom. I literally remember the day

I thought of this idea of calling on

every student in every school and even

adults to try just one hour to demystify

this black box of coding and technology.

And you know, together we've enabled

almost two billion times for an hour of

code to be done by students in every

country in places where they don't even

have electricity. And it's been done by

celebrities, by world leaders, even by

the former pope. Uh, and our new call to

action with an hour of AI is for

students, classrooms, and even adults

everywhere to try just one hour of not

just using AI with like a prompt to

create an image, but to go deeper to

understand how it works, to build

software with it, to get a deeper

understanding of its limitations, the

ethical impacts, and get sort of a head

start into what you call AI engineering,

and to become technologists with AI. And

that's something we aim to spread like

we did with the Hour of Code to millions

of classrooms around the globe. Today,

we're starting with a call to action for

teachers and schools and nonprofits to

participate in what really has been and

will become a new global campaign for AI

literacy.

>> Well, that's great. Let me just say

thank you. Um, we are incredibly excited

about where you're going, where code.org

is going, where the next incarnation of

code.org or will take the world and

we're thrilled to be part of it. So,

thank you very much.

[Applause]

So, let me just close and you know with

a a a question and a thought. The

question is one that was put to me a

year ago in Hiroshima, Japan, when the

Vatican brought together faiths from

around the world and a few business

leaders

to advance the Rome call for AI ethics.

And there was the president of a

religious university who was there who

kept cornering me and he said, "I

understand why all of these religious

leaders are here. I don't understand why

you're here.

Why would Microsoft be involved in

something like this? Why does Microsoft

work with all of these nonprofits around

the world? And I said because we can and

we should. But it was not persuading

this individual. And I said, well, look,

let me tell you a little bit about our

DNA, our history.

Long before Microsoft could afford to

employ more than a handful of people,

Bill Gates mother, Mary Gates of

Seattle,

said to her son, "You need to have an

employee giving campaign.

You need to support the United Way of

King County, where Gordon Mckenry is

here today as its CEO.

You need to instill in your people that

as they become more successful in life,

they can and should do more to help

other people become more successful in

life.

And this has become I think one of the

defining elements of Microsoft's culture

where in Silicon Valley it became the

norm for the tech sector to to provide

pretty welloff folks who work with them

with free food for lunch.

We stayed away from that here in Puget

Sound and have embarked on a global

initiative that we have sustained ever

since to match every employees

charitable donations up to $15,000 a

year to match the donation of time at

the rate of $25 per hour. It is

something that a majority, a large

majority of our employees take advantage

of every year. But more than that, it

has brought people together. And it puts

the community first. It puts our

customers first. It puts our mission of

empowering other people first.

So if you look back at the 50 years,

we've had way more good years than bad

ones. But it doesn't matter what kind of

year it has been. Every year we put more

energy and resources and our employees

donate more of their time and money into

supporting the world. That's what

today's announcement in part is about.

This is the next generation of what

Microsoft has the opportunity to do for

the world.

Thank you for all of you who've been

here. We couldn't do it without you. We

wouldn't do it without you because you

are the ones who really make things

happen and we are excited to play this

role. So, thank you. Let's all get

together for a photograph. But before we

do that outside, thank you for coming

today.

[Music]