• by Laurie Sullivan , Staff Writer @lauriesullivan, June 25, 2018

After several years of filing documentation, the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) finally granted Microsoft a patent for its method of annotating structured data for search.

Microsoft describes the patent as being able to link a portion of the various content on a page as a way to provide more relevant information from searches.

It is these types of events along with societal responsibilities that interest Fernando Diaz, who was recently hired in Montreal as principal researcher and lead of the new Montreal FATE Research Group at Microsoft.

Although he is not one of the investors of this patent the USPTO granted in May 2018, Diaz specializes in search and information retrieval as well as artificial intelligence. He has expertise in the design of information access systems, including search engines, music recommendation services and crisis response platforms, with an emphasis in understanding the societal implications of AI.

Prior to rejoining Microsoft, Diaz spend nearly one-and-a-half years at Spotify as director of research. He returns to Microsoft after leaving in March 2017 after nearly 5 years as senior researcher. He also spend time at Yahoo as a senior research scientist.

“Today was my last day at @SpotifyResearch and it was not without mixed emotions,” Diaz wrote in a tweet on Twitter. “My time there was extremely rewarding and the colleagues I’m leaving behind are world class.”

Perhaps leaving behind “world-class” colleagues, but heading into a new position where Diaz will spend more time addressing social issues that arise from AI and other technologies.

Similar to Google, Microsoft is committed to understanding and carrying out the “responsible” use of AI and creating technology that will “solve important problems” and help people in their everyday lives. These technology raise important challenges that companies creating AI need to address.

Diaz holds a B.Sc. in Computer Science and a B.A. in Political Science, both from the University of Michigan, and a Ph.D. from the University of Massachusetts at Amherst.