Microsoft’s Satya Nadella Pumps the Breaks on AI Hype

The world has yet to turn any of today’s AI hype and spending into a meaningful lift in the actual economy, says Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella. The comments were made during a podcast interview in which he put a measuring stick on AI’s true impact: Success will be measured through global economic growth rather than arbitrary benchmarks of how well AI programs can complete challenges like obscure math puzzles. Those are interesting in isolation but do not have practical utility. The comments seem to be targeted directly at the tech industry, imploring insiders to stop spreading hype about a so-called “artificial general intelligence” that could replace humans in most tasks. Nadella said essentially that it will not happen, and either way is an unnecessary distraction when the industry needs to get practical and just try and make money before investors get impatient. Microsoft is the primary backer of OpenAI, whose CEO Sam Altman has long stoked fears of AI taking over the world. Critics ... Read full article.