For Microsoft head of business development, strategy and ventures Christopher Young, identifying the company’s next big thing is the name of the game. And at Fortune's Brainstorm AI conference in San Francisco on Monday, Young walked through some of the biggest AI opportunities he sees on the horizon, from robotics to healthcare to data center sustainability.
Embodied AI — basically, AI that is integrated into the physical world — is one important category on Young's radar. Self-driving vehicles, for example, will be big for Microsoft, he explained — but not necessarily vehicles that transport people. It will be “a lot more about transportation of goods and services around,” he said, like long-haul trucking: “Just think about all the vehicles that operate in small warehouse contexts or even a shipyard.”
