Microsoft executive Qi Lu, a key architect of Chief Executive Officer Satya Nadella’s strategy for artificial intelligence and bots, is leaving the company due to health issues, the software giant said Thursday.
Lu was a respected technologist who ran both the Office and search groups in his eight years at the company, following about a decade at Yahoo! and a stint at IBM.
He was injured in a biking accident and is leaving due to related health reasons, ReCode reported earlier.
Once Lu recovers, he will serve as adviser to Nadella and co-founder Bill Gates.
With Lu’s departure in October, Microsoft is creating a new AI research group, to be led by 20-year company veteran Harry Shum, whose career has spanned leadership roles across research and Bing engineering.