Microsoft has appointed Peter Lee as President of Microsoft Science, a new role focused on advancing scientific discovery through artificial intelligence and emerging technologies.
Lee shared the update in a LinkedIn post announcing the role, which follows his leadership of Microsoft Research’s global laboratory network. The move reflects growing efforts within the company to connect AI research more directly with scientific and commercial applications.
In the post, Lee wrote: “I’m excited to share news about my new role at Microsoft. I am now President, Microsoft Science.”
He framed the appointment within a broader shift underway across knowledge industries, writing: “We’re living through a profound shift in knowledge work. Agentic AI systems are no longer theoretical. We see this in software development today, but this transformation won’t stop there.”
Lee added that AI-driven transformation is likely to extend into multiple research domains: “All domains of advanced knowledge work will be reshaped and, in my opinion, the most important frontier has to do with how we do research in the physical, biological, and medical sciences.”
Microsoft links AI research to scientific discovery
Lee said the new role builds on work already underway within Microsoft Research, which has been exploring how AI can accelerate scientific discovery: “At Microsoft Research (MSR), we’ve been exploring exactly this possibility for years, and in recent years this has been particularly intense. The momentum has been extraordinary.”
He highlighted recent research output across the organization, writing: “In the past 24 months alone, MSR has shipped dozens of advanced science models and tools, advanced the capabilities of some of the world’s greatest science-forward companies and research organizations, and shared its knowledge openly in dozens of high impact papers, source-code repositories, and datasets.”
Lee also pointed to research publications in major journals: “Indeed, while MSR’s goal is never about publishing papers, we’ve published 10 papers in the main premier ‘CNS’ journals (Cell, Nature, and Science) in just the past 24 months — an unprecedented feat in the history of research labs!”
He added that the organization’s work has strengthened confidence that AI will reshape how scientific research is conducted: “I’m incredibly proud of what has been accomplished and the evidence that we, along with many other great labs around the world, have developed that AI will accelerate the discovery of new science.”
Focus shifts toward hands-on research and technical work
Lee said the new role will allow him to spend more time on technical work while supporting Microsoft’s broader scientific strategy. He wrote: “I’ve felt a strong pull to be more hands-on in contributing to all this. By rearranging the demands on my time, I think I can help remove barriers to impact and make my own technical contributions.”
Lee added that the role is also intended to help link scientific research more closely with Microsoft’s commercial strategy: “I’ve also felt that I can be very useful in linking the research to bigger commercial opportunities for Microsoft.”
The initial focus of the role will include work related to AI-enabled research models. Lee explained: “Thus, my new role is designed to reduce my management responsibilities and let me spend as much of my time as possible on technical work, with an initial focus inspired by MSR’s advances in AI-enabled virtual patients, populations, and labs, and their power to transform biomedical research.”
He added that the work may also influence broader scientific and engineering fields: “We can dramatically accelerate discovery in the biomedical sciences, and the core ideas developed will also apply to many domains of science and technology research where ‘learning the languages of nature’ and enabling human machine collaborative discovery matter.”
Lee also acknowledged colleagues involved in the transition, writing: “There are a whole host of people making this possible for me, none more so than Kevin Scott.” He added that Igor Tsyganskiy will take on responsibility for leading Microsoft Research.
Lee wrote: “I also am grateful to Igor Tsyganskiy for taking on the big job of leading Microsoft Research — I have no doubt that he’ll take the MSR labs up to new heights.”
The appointment signals Microsoft’s continued investment in using AI to accelerate scientific discovery, particularly in fields such as biomedical research.
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