Jonathan Foster

About Jonathan Foster

My writing background in film, television, theater, and even fiction set me up for a fascinating journey in the world of designing AI. At Microsoft, it all started with designing personality for various conversational UX products, famously Microsoft’s agent Cortana, as well as driving basic voice and tone principles for standard UX. Large Language Models have since transformed our entire approach. For writers like me, the probabilistic UX generated by LLMs provides unprecedented opportunities for new design thinking and strategies. We are now being called upon to apply our language expertise deep inside the system, using our natural language skills to help generate the AI outcomes we want. This includes quality and relevance, how interactions feel to people, and—critically—the prioritization of Responsible AI principles. I’m honored to be a Content Design leader at Microsoft empowered to drive this transformation, helping to evolve content design skills and push individuals towards extraordinary career growth. This includes me: I now have a technical understanding of how things work, something I never thought possible for a writer who started out with an MFA in screenwriting. Life in the silicon forest has been, and continues to be, good.

Experience

1. Principal Content Design Director, M365 Copilot, Content Engineering, Privacy, Personality for Ai

   Microsoft

   Nov 2018 — Present · Seattle, WA, US

   My writing background in film, television, theater, and even fiction set me up for a fascinating journey in the world of designing AI. At Microsoft, it all started with designing personality for various conversational UX products, famously Microsoft’s agent Cortana, as well as driving basic voice and tone principles for standard UX. Large Language Models have since transformed our entire approach. For writers like me, the probabilistic UX generated by LLMs provides unprecedented opportunities for new design thinking and strategies. We are now being called upon to apply our language expertise deep inside the system, using our natural language skills to help generate the AI outcomes we want. This includes quality and relevance, how interactions feel to people, and—critically—the prioritization of Responsible AI principles. I’m honored to be a Content Design leader at Microsoft empowered to drive this transformation, helping to evolve content design skills and push individuals towards extraordinary career growth. This includes me: I now have a technical understanding of how things work, something I never thought possible for a writer who started out with an MFA in screenwriting. Life in the silicon forest has been, and continues to be, good. Specialties: Content engineering & Content Design transformation, agent building at scale and for personal use, organization & team leadership including seismic-change management, personality & tone design for AI, conversational UX design, Responsible AI, mentoring and ensuring a diverse, equitable and inclusive team culture.

Education

• University of Southern California

  MFA, Professional Writing

• UCLA

  BA, History

Skills

• Team Management
• Competitive Analysis
• Creative Direction
• Social Networking
• Multimedia
• Creative Writing
• Email Marketing
• Direct Marketing
• E-Learning
• Writing
• Marketing Communications
• Facebook
• Web Content
• Technical Writing
• Video Production
• Content Management
• Microsoft Office
• SEO
• E-Commerce
• Editing
• Content Strategy
• Copywriting
• Online Marketing
• Content Development
• Final Cut Pro
• Video
• Photoshop
• Editorial
• Social Media
• Production
• Web Analytics
• Blogging
• Marketing
• Publishing