Yu-Ting Kuo

Yu-Ting Kuo works across academia and industry, with a longstanding focus on artificial intelligence and responsible innovation in technology. He is a faculty member at MIT Sloan School of Management and the Department of Computer Science at National Tsing Hua University. Kuo has also given invited guest lectures at Columbia Business School, Oxford Saïd Business School, University of Chicago Booth School of Business, and Imperial College Business School. His academic interests span the ethics, governance, economics, and societal impact of AI, alongside innovation management, entrepreneurship, and machine learning.

Kuo spent 27 years at Microsoft and retired as a Corporate Vice President. Over the course of his career there, he helped build and scale Microsoft's cloud AI services and consumer AI applications, drawing on both internal R&D and strategic acquisitions. In his final role, he led the company’s efforts in agentic AI development. He also founded Microsoft’s AI R&D centers in Belgrade, Cambridge (UK), Taipei, and Zürich.

Alongside his work in technology, Kuo has stayed active in teaching, advising, and institution-building. He serves as an independent director for nonprofits and startups, an entrepreneurship expert at Oxford Saïd Business School, and a professional advisor to the MIT Martin Trust Center for Entrepreneurship. He also served on the MIT Sloan School of Management Executive Board until its conclusion in May 2026. In June 2026, Kuo was elected an Industry and Enterprise Fellow at Clare Hall, University of Cambridge. He is also a jury member for Europe's €125m Next Frontier AI Challenge, an initiative by SPRIN-D, Germany's Federal Agency for Breakthrough Innovation.

Kuo's work has been recognized through publications, awards, and industry coverage. He co-authored the 2024 paper “The Mechanisms of AI Hype,” which became the most accessed article in the Springer Journal AI and Ethics collection on the ethical implications of AI hype. In 2021, Business Insider named him one of the “11 power players leading artificial intelligence at Microsoft.” Kuo's pioneering work in cloud AI services, which earned him the inaugural Asian American Luminary Award in Science and Engineering Innovation from the US-based Chinese Institute of Engineers in 2018, is also featured in the 2025 book The Insider’s Guide to Innovation at Microsoft. He holds 12 US and international patents in search and AI technologies. 

Kuo began his career as a strategy consultant at McKinsey & Company. He is an alumnus of National Tsing Hua University, MIT, Harvard Business School, the Wharton School, and Oxford Saïd Business School. He was named a Distinguished Alumnus of the College of Science at National Tsing Hua University in 2021 and received the university’s Distinguished Alumni Award in 2026. In 2025, he was elected an Honorary Fellow of Hughes Hall, University of Cambridge, in recognition of his contributions to AI innovation and philanthropy. 

His current work focuses on the ethics, safety, climate impact, cognitive sovereignty, and governance of AI, alongside entrepreneurship and innovation management across startups and large organizations.