The real news is "The End of Microsoft Research". Langford's group is just one of many that have been parted out over the last year or so. The division that was T&R under Kevin Scott was quietly dissolved about a year ago and MSR was reorged under Azure Security with the AzSec leader as hatchetman for the department. MSR itself doesn't have a future beyond a few years at most I reckon. I don't suspect Kevin Scott will be around much longer either since his department keeps getting reduced and is fully eligible for VEO.

Langford has been at MSR a very long time and has done amazing research doing that time. He's bounced around a bit at MSR during his tenure and it's a shame to lose him. AI Frontiers wasn't around that long.

Much of this is Microsoft performing a very large and uncommunicated strategy update. All updates of MSR reorgs are just that "MSR is becoming more lean and focused" when it's obvious this isn't the case. This gets into the conversation that many Microsoft employees tend to have these days which is "Why does culture no longer matter at Microsoft and why did Satya turn into another heartless CEO". I won't speculate there, but the place isn't nearly as fun as it used to be.