Microsoft Creates CoreAI Platform Under Ex-Facebook Engineer Jay Parikh

Microsoft has announced a major organizational restructuring to consolidate its artificial intelligence efforts under a new engineering division called CoreAI Platform and Tools. CEO Satya Nadella revealed the move in an email to employees Monday morning, signaling the company’s commitment to positioning itself at the forefront of the AI revolution.

The new group will be led by Jay Parikh, Facebook’s former head of engineering who joined Microsoft’s senior leadership team in October 2024. Parikh brings over a decade of experience from Meta (formerly Facebook), where he was instrumental in building and maintaining the company’s massive technical infrastructure, including a global network of data centers spanning multiple continents. As one of Mark Zuckerberg’s top lieutenants, Parikh also led ambitious initiatives including internet connectivity projects and an experimental internet drone program.

The CoreAI Platform and Tools division will consolidate several critical Microsoft teams, including the developer division, AI platform team, and GitHub Copilot development. Additionally, AI-related teams from Chief Technology Officer Kevin Scott’s office—such as AI Supercomputer, AI Agentic Runtimes, and Engineering Thrive—will be integrated into the new organization.

Nadella’s email emphasized that 2025 will be transformative for AI applications, particularly AI agents, which he believes will fundamentally reshape how applications are built and used. “2025 will be about model-forward applications that reshape all application categories,” Nadella wrote. He compared the current shift to the simultaneous introduction of GUI, internet servers, and cloud-native databases, stating that “thirty years of change is being compressed into three years.”

Parikh’s new leadership team includes several key Microsoft executives: Eric Boyd (corporate vice president of AI platform), Jason Taylor (deputy CTO for AI infrastructure), Julia Liuson (president of the developer division), and Tim Bozarth (corporate vice president of developer infrastructure). The new organization will also work closely with other senior leaders including cloud-and-AI chief Scott Guthrie, experiences-and-devices leader Rajesh Jha, security boss Charlie Bell, consumer AI CEO Mustafa Suleyman, and CTO Kevin Scott.

This restructuring reflects Microsoft’s strategic bet on AI as the defining technology platform of the coming years, consolidating resources and talent to accelerate innovation across its entire product ecosystem.

Key Quotes

2025 will be about model-forward applications that reshape all application categories.

CEO Satya Nadella wrote this in his email to employees, emphasizing his vision that AI agents and model-forward applications will fundamentally transform how software is built and used across all categories.

More so than any previous platform shift, every layer of the application stack will be impacted. It’s akin to GUI, internet servers, and cloud-native databases all being introduced into the app stack simultaneously.

Nadella used this comparison to illustrate the magnitude of the AI transformation, suggesting that the current shift is more comprehensive than any previous technology revolution in computing history.

Thirty years of change is being compressed into three years!

This statement from Nadella’s email underscores the unprecedented pace of AI-driven transformation Microsoft anticipates, highlighting the urgency behind the organizational restructuring and the need for rapid adaptation.

Our Take

Microsoft’s creation of CoreAI Platform and Tools under Jay Parikh reveals a critical strategic insight: winning in AI requires world-class infrastructure engineering, not just model development. By recruiting Meta’s infrastructure architect, Microsoft acknowledges that AI’s computational demands rival social media’s scale challenges. The consolidation of GitHub Copilot, AI platform teams, and developer tools under one umbrella suggests Microsoft is building toward a unified AI development experience that could lock developers into its ecosystem. Nadella’s “thirty years in three” framing isn’t hyperbole—it’s a warning to competitors and a rallying cry internally. The emphasis on AI agents and model-forward applications indicates Microsoft sees a future where traditional software architectures become obsolete, replaced by AI-native systems. This restructuring positions Microsoft to move faster than fragmented competitors, potentially widening its lead in enterprise AI adoption.

Why This Matters

This organizational restructuring represents Microsoft’s most significant commitment yet to AI infrastructure and development, signaling that the company views AI not as a feature but as a fundamental platform shift comparable to the internet or cloud computing. By consolidating disparate AI teams under unified leadership, Microsoft is positioning itself to move faster and more cohesively in the rapidly evolving AI landscape.

The appointment of Jay Parikh is particularly significant—his experience building Meta’s global infrastructure demonstrates Microsoft’s recognition that AI success requires not just algorithmic innovation but massive-scale engineering capabilities. The focus on “model-forward applications” and AI agents suggests Microsoft anticipates a shift from traditional software architectures to AI-native applications, which could reshape the entire software industry.

For businesses and developers, this move indicates that Microsoft’s AI tools and platforms will likely see accelerated development and tighter integration across products like GitHub Copilot, Azure AI services, and enterprise applications. The emphasis on compressing “thirty years of change into three years” suggests rapid disruption ahead, requiring organizations to adapt quickly or risk falling behind in the AI-driven transformation of software development and business operations.

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Source: https://www.businessinsider.com/microsoft-ai-group-under-jay-parikh-former-facebook-head-engineering-2025-1