New Delhi, Nov. 14 -- John Langford, the researcher who led Microsoft's AI research group, AI Frontiers, has left the company, declaring that the group is now over. His exit follows a restructuring that saw AI Frontiers move from Microsoft Research to Microsoft AI. Langford said the shift created little scope for his team to continue the kind of research and innovation it had originally set out to pursue.

What was intended to bring AI research teams together eventually resulted in an uncomfortable separation. Langford's account also highlights a larger debate within the artificial intelligence industry: whether companies should focus on developing increasingly large AI models or invest in finding more efficient ways to improve their perf...