Microsoft has been a leader in artificial intelligence (AI),taking it from something that was theoretical and making it very real. The company laid out its plans in a 2019 blog post that more or less predicted the future.
"Just a few years ago, artificial intelligence was largely relegated to universities and research labs, a charming computer science concept with little use in mainstream business. Today, AI is being integrated into everything from your refrigerator to your favorite workout app," the company shared.
That's a sort of innocent way to frame AI which does not include the many ways the technology can go wrong. To be fair, Microsoft (MSFT) -) has put building responsible AI-based products as its core mission which the company also spelled out in the 2019 blog post.
"Our AI tools and technologies are designed to benefit everyone at every level in every organization. They are used in workplaces, home offices, academic institutions, research labs, and manufacturing facilities around the world, and they are helping everyone from scientists and salespeople to farmers, software developers, and security practitioners," the company wrote.
Microsoft's leaders clearly understood where AI might go wrong and the dangers it comes with. They probably foresaw how the technology could be used for everything from cheating on a college paper to replacing actors with virtual actors (and many more nefarious potential uses for deep fakes.
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Satya Nadella has issues with Google
Satya Nadella has transformed Microsoft since taking over for former CEO Steve Ballmer. Instead of closing the company off from its rivals, Nadella has been open to working with companies that are also competitors like Apple.
The CEO, however, remains at odds with Alphabet (GOOGL) -) and testified in a recent antitrust lawsuit against the Google operator. Geekwire shared a partial transcript of that testimony where Nadella made it clear that he believes that Alphabet uses its enormous leverage to stifle competition. (That's a charge Alphabet obviously disputes).
“This entire notion that users have choice and they go from one website to one website or one search into one search...it’s [completely] bogus. There’s defaults...You get up in the morning, you brush your teeth and you search on Google. And so therefore, with that such level of habit forming, the only way to change is by changing defaults,” he said.
Nadella also believes that Alphabet sells a false narrative that OEM partners have a choice when in reality they don't.
"Google has carrots and it has massive sticks...‘We’ll remove Google Play if you don’t have us as the primary browser.’ And without Google Play, an Android phone is a brick. And so that is the type of stuff that is impossible to overcome. No OEM is going to do that,” he said.
Satya Nadella shares his AI fears
Nadell also shared a surprising fear about artificial intelligence that may not be what you expected.
“I worry a lot, even in spite of my enthusiasm, that there is a new angle with AI. I worry a lot that, in fact, this vicious cycle that I’m trapped in can even become even more vicious because the defaults get reinforced. The publisher content can get locked in. And so if there are exclusive content deals which are happening right as we speak…all that content today, at least that’s crawlable by everyone and usable by large model training, could become exclusive,” he shared.
Basically, the CEO is worried that content — really knowledge — that is now available to all will become proprietary. That may not be angry robots enslaving humanity, but it's a more subtle danger that's harder to guard against.
For the record, these are stalwart stocks.
Alphabet, at $137.58, is up 55.9% for the year, as of Friday, and sports a market cap of $1.74 trillion.
Microsoft is up 36.5% for the year at $327.26. It has a market cap of $2.43 trillion.
