Building Community-First AI Infrastructure

Microsoft’s 5-point plan to partner with local communities across the United States

This year marks America’s 250^th year of independence. One of the trends that has repeatedly shaped the nation’s history is again in the news. As we’re experiencing at Microsoft, AI is the latest in a long line of new technologies to require large-scale infrastructure development.

Microsoft today is launching a new initiative to build what we call Community-First AI Infrastructure—a commitment to do this work differently than some others and to do it responsibly. This commits us to the concrete steps needed to be a good neighbor in the communities where we build, own, and operate our datacenters. It reflects our sense of civic responsibility as well as a broad and long-term view of what it will take to run a successful AI infrastructure business. In short, we will set a high bar.

As we launch this initiative, we think about it in the context of both the headlines of the day and the…