Microsoft is moving its communications group out of marketing and into its Corporate, External, and Legal Affairs (CELA) organization. The surprise change will see Microsoft vice chair and president Brad Smith oversee communications, while the company searches for a replacement for Frank Shaw, chief communications officer, who is departing later this year.

Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella thanked Shaw “for everything he has done for Microsoft” in an internal memo announcing the communications changes. Shaw announced earlier this month that he’s leaving Microsoft after nearly three decades supporting the company’s communications.

Brent Colburn, VP of global public affairs, has been appointed as interim communications leader to help navigate what Nadella calls “a media environment that is increasingly fragmented and noisier than ever.” Nadella also says he’s “excited about the opportunity to help our engineers, sellers, partners, and others closest to our products and customers become an even bigger part of how we tell our story.”

As GeekWire points out, that sounds a lot like how AI startups work, with researchers leading the demos and blogs at companies like OpenAI and Anthropic. Microsoft has been chasing Google, Anthropic, and OpenAI to “become one of the top four labs in the world,” according to Microsoft AI CEO Mustafa Suleyman.

In an interview with The Verge earlier this year, Suleyman said he wants Microsoft “to build the very best frontier models in the world.” Brad Smith, who’s taking over communications from chief marketing officer Takeshi Numoto, is often the public face of Microsoft’s policy and corporate communications.

Smith travels the world meeting with governments, regulators, and Microsoft’s customers. It’s still not clear who will take over permanently from Shaw later this year, but Microsoft is looking at both internal and external candidates.

Here’s Satya Nadella’s memo: Communications has never been more important to Microsoft. The company is changing, our industry is changing, and the world around us is changing.

And in a media environment that is increasingly fragmented and noisier than ever, we need to continue to be grounded in our mission, earn trust each day, and find new ways to connect directly with all of our constituencies. I first want to thank Frank for everything he has done for Microsoft.

He has made tremendous contributions to the company and to our communications function over the last 17+ years. And he’s been a great source of counsel to our leadership team and to me personally, across the company’s biggest moments.