Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella Pushes Back Against AI Hype, Questions Real-World Value


Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella, whose company has paid billions of dollars into Openai, takes on a surprisingly skeptical position on the current state of artificial intelligence.
In a recent interview with Podcaster Dwarkesh Patel, Nadella rejected media threshing surrounding artificial general intelligence (AG), the appellant “absurd reference hacking”. He said that instead of chasing fantastic milestones, the industry should focus on the question of whether AI book really Economic growth of the real world.
“Ourselves ourselves [AGI] Milestone is just an absurd reference hack, “said Nadella. “The first thing we all have to do is that when we say that it is like the industrial revolution, have this type of growth in the industrial revolution.”
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His comments arise while the investment of $ 12 billion in Microsoft in Openai has not yet given significant financial returns, which raises fears that the company has overestimated the economic impact of the AI.
Microsoft has invested massively in Openai, guaranteeing dominant participation in its operations while integrating OPENAI models into products such as Microsoft 365 COPILOT and AZURE D’AI. However, despite all the media, Openai had trouble generating the kind of Income that justifies such a huge investment.
Although tools like Chatgpt have aroused a massive interest in users, they have not yet translated as sustainable profits. Openai business offers, such as access to paid APIs and premium versions of Chatgpt, have not seen the explosive growth expected by investors.

Nadella’s latest remarks are seen as A gentle admission according to which the economic impact of the AI was exaggerated, in particular given the continuous dependence of OpenAI with regard to Microsoft’s financial support.
Nadella directly challenged comparisons between AI and industrial revolution, declaring that real economic transformation would be reflected in measurable gains in global productivity.
“So the first thing we all have to do is that when we say that it is like the industrial revolution, have this type of growth in the industrial revolution,” he said.

“The real reference is: the world increases to 10%,” he explained. “Suddenly, productivity increases and the economy increases at a faster rate. When this happens, everything will be fine as an industrial. »»
For the moment, however, this does not happen.
Despite the immense investment in AI research, productivity growth remains stagnant and global economic expansion has not yet reflected the supposed potential transformer of the AI. While companies have integrated AI into various processes, technology still faces fundamental limitations, in particular:
- Hallucinations AI (manufacture of false information), which makes them unreliable for critical decision -making.
- High calculation costs, which makes costly AI to evolve profitably.
- Legal and regulatory obstacles, slowing down generalized adoption.
A contrast striking with the optimism of Openai
Nadella’s skepticism contrasts directly with the aggressive account of the AI pushed by the CEO of Openai, Sam Altman, who said on several occasions that Agi was at hand and that the IA will reshape the global economy.
Altman’s vision, however, did not materialize. The latest Openai AI models are expensive run And require significant human intervention, contradicting the idea that AI is ready to revolutionize the industries overnight.
Adding to the challenges of Openai, Chinese competitors have Started threatening its market domination. Earlier this year, the startup of Chinese AI Deepseek published its R1 reasoning model, which has provided capabilities similar to a fraction of Openai costs. The result was a reworking of the market of $ 1 Billion, because investors have poured AI shares in fear that the premium prices of Openai were not durable.
Does IA beaten media start to crack?
The AI sector is faced with serious financial turbulence, and Microsoft is not the only company to feel heat.
The massive financial commitment to AI has not yet given proportional economic gains, leading to growing skepticism among investors. While Microsoft, Google and Amazon rushed to dominate AI space, income models remain uncertain and AI services remain too expensive to be profitable on a large scale.
The Stargate project contradicts Nadella
While Nadella publicly explores expectations concerning AI, Microsoft’s financial commitments tell a different story.
Microsoft is a key support for President Donald Trump’s “Stargate” project, a very ambitious AI initiative. When Elon Musk wondered publicly if Sam Altman had obtained the necessary funds, Nadella’s response to CNBC Regarding It was: “All I know is that I am good for my $ 80 billion.”
This contradiction thus raises the following questions: does Nadella simply manage the expectations of investors, or does Microsoft hide its bets in case the AI does not reach its great promises?