When Peter Lee announced two weeks ago that he was leaving Microsoft, he said only that his next job would fulfill “a dream I’ve had since childhood.”
The dream, it turns out, comes with a pit crew.
The longtime Microsoft Research leader, who is leaving his post as president of Microsoft Science after more than 16 years at the company, plans to join the Mercedes Formula 1 team in a newly created AI advisor role, according to a report by Fortune.
As a career turn, it isn’t as much of a surprise as it might seem. Lee raced karts and Formula Ford as a kid, and he was once a licensed auto body technician, he told GeekWire last year. He had a replica 1955 Porsche 550 Spyder converted to electric and was in the middle of converting a 1968 Ford Mustang GT Fastback last year.
He called cars “a great laboratory” for AI models that decide an agent’s next move.
“The thing I’ve always loved about cars, and why I love to work on cars, is you actually finish something,” he said in that interview. “That never happens in software.”
At Mercedes, he’ll focus on using AI to tackle physics problems for the team’s car, breaking down organizational and data silos, building financial and predictive models, and advising the team on how F1’s regulators might govern AI. He’s expected to join on a one-year contract with an option for a second. His exact title is still being worked out, according to the report.
“I’m completely thrilled, and I’m in disbelief that they would think of me for something like this,” he told Fortune.
His exit is part of a broader wave of senior departures from Microsoft this year, including LinkedIn and Office chief Ryan Roslansky and communications chief Frank Shaw.