Microsoft in the News
Microsoft Issues a Warning about its AI
Microsoft is investing heavily in AI. In fact, investment in AI was cited in their latest public filing as one of the main reasons its operating expenses have increased by 23% for the Intelligent Cloud unit in the past six months. That is an increase in spending of $1.1 billion!
But when presenting the report, Microsoft’s CEO, Satya Nadella, said that AI is a risky business and things can still go very wrong. Included in the filing were the following statements:
“Issues in the use of AI in our offerings may result in reputational harm or liability.”
“AI algorithms may be flawed. Datasets may be insufficient or contain biased information. Inappropriate or controversial data practices by Microsoft or others could impair the acceptance of AI solutions. … Some AI scenarios present ethical issues.”
Remember in 2016 when Microsoft had to shut down a Twitter chatbot after trolls taught it some colourful new words. The AI learned the words without learning the need to avoid those sexist and racist words.
Back in January I blogged about the potential for misuse of AI fueled facial recognition software. Lots of room for issues that could cause considerable embarrassment for Microsoft.
Things may get worse before they get better. Best to be ready, and try not to be too offended. It is all part of the learning process.
The quarterly report can be found here: https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/investor
Resource Pool – Types
So far in my previous blogs I have talked about resource pools and the various limits that SQL Server Resource Governor will allow you to place on them. In this blog I will talk about the three types of resource pools.
The Internal Resource Pool
The Internal Resource Pool cannot be altered or restricted and will only contain the Internal Group. It is responsible for providing the resources necessary for running SQL Server itself. All functions pertaining to the Internal Group will be shunted to this pool. The Internal Group functions are treated as critical for the proper functioning of SQL Server. Because these functions are treated as critical, it will draw on whatever resources it needs for proper functioning, even if that means impinging on the minimum limits set for other pools. The Internal Pool is also given priority over all other pools in its call for resources.
Although the Internal Pool takes up resources, these resources are not included in the calculation of percentages allocated from the total resources being governed.
The Default Resource Pool
SQL Server comes with a pre-defined Default Pool used for routine SQL Server operations, and starting with SQL Server 2016 (13.x), a second Default Resource Pool (the External Pool) for processes like executing R scripts.
The Default Pool cannot be created or dropped, but it can be governed.
The Default Pool is responsible for processing the Default Group, but you may, through the Classification Process, shunt certain routine sessions to other groups. You may also create additional groups that call on the Default Pool.
If a session comes in that does not fit any of the classifications you defined for the Classification Function, that session will be shunted to the Default Group. The Default Group cannot be removed from the Default Resource Pool.
The User Defined Resource Pool
SQL Server will support up to sixty-four User Defined Resource Pools. These are the pools that we have been discussing in my previous blogs. See Previous blogs for the additional detail on how to set these up.
