For Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella, a man tasked with running one of the most integral — and most valuable — companies in the world, the basis of success is simple: make sure what they do is what their customers and employees want.
"Our success is aligned with the success of the world around us," Nadella told Cheddar's Hope King in an exclusive interview this week.
"Each of us comes into the workplace with a passion, with a personal philosophy, in terms of what we want, in terms of the meaning in our lives" he added. "That's, to me, the biggest unlock any corporation could do."
And with the innovative leaps on Microsoft's horizon, particularly in cloud and artificial intelligence, Nadella said to achieve that success means to build products that are easy to use — "really all one platform."
Although cloud computing — and its Azure platform, in particular — remains the biggest driving force for Microsoft's businesses, Nadella avoided giving too much credit to just one product.
"When we say we want to empower every person and every organization on the planet to achieve, more fundamental to that mission is not celebrating any success we have," he said."
Customers don't care about specific product lines, according to Nadella.
"Azure is a super important part of what we're doing, but when we think about what's happening, whether it is a Game Pass or xCloud, whether it's Microsoft 365, Dynamics 365, LinkedIn or Azure, it's really all one platform effect," he said.
Nadella's comments come amid news of major deals struck with AT&T and Kroger earlier this year, as well as a $1 billion investment from Microsoft in OpenAI, the artificial intelligence research startup co-founded by Elon Musk, who has since stepped down. That funding is meant to jumpstart supercomputing abilities for Azure, which has grown 64 percent since last year, according to the company's latest earnings. Azure competes against Amazon's Web Services, which dominated the sector for years, although Microsoft Azure is number two in market share and has grown steadily to about 16 percent in the first quarter of 2019 according to Synergy research.
Moreover, Microsoft's intelligent cloud services boasted about $11.4 billion in revenues — beating analyst expectations.
Nadella emphasized that ensuring all these technologies are cohesive is key.
Azure's new effort with OpenAI aims to scale general artificial intelligence — AI that can master a human field to an "expert" level — on an Azure-supported platform. But Nadella cautioned that these new technologies will require determining ways to reduce or remove bias from artificial intelligence systems and how we select the tasks artificial intelligence should be responsible for.
"Let's start with a set of ethical design principles," he said. "As AI develops, let's not just celebrate what AI can do. We should also really ask ourselves what should AI do?"
"The human should always be in the loop. What that means, in terms of being in the loop, will change in definition."
The Rev. Al Sharpton is set to lead a protest march on Wall Street to urge corporate America to resist the Trump administration’s campaign to roll back diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives. The New York civil rights leader will join clergy, labor and community leaders Thursday in a demonstration through Manhattan’s Financial District that’s timed with the anniversary of the Civil Rights-era March on Washington in 1963. Sharpton called DEI the “civil rights fight of our generation." He and other Black leaders have called for boycotting American retailers that scaled backed policies and programs aimed at bolstering diversity and reducing discrimination in their ranks.
President Donald Trump's administration last month awarded a $1.2 billion contract to build and operate what's expected to become the nation’s largest immigration detention complex to a tiny Virginia firm with no experience running correction facilities.
Chipmaker Nvidia is poised to release a quarterly report that could provide a better sense of whether the stock market has been riding an overhyped artificial intelligence bubble or is being propelled by a technological boom that’s still gathering momentum.
Cracker Barrel said late Tuesday it’s returning to its old logo after critics — including President Donald Trump — protested the company’s plan to modernize.
Low-value imports are losing their duty-free status in the U.S. this week as part of President Donald Trump's agenda for making the nation less dependent on foreign goods. A widely used customs exemption for international shipments worth $800 or less is set to end starting on Friday. Trump already ended the “de minimis” rule for inexpensive items sent from China and Hong Kong, but having to pay import taxes on small parcels from everywhere else likely will be a big change for some small businesses and online shoppers. Purchases that previously entered the U.S. without needing to clear customs will be subject to the origin country’s tariff rate, which can range from 10% to 50%.
Southwest Airlines will soon require plus-size travelers to pay for an extra seat in advance if they can't fit within the armrests of one seat. This change is part of several updates the airline is making. The new rule starts on Jan. 27, the same day Southwest begins assigning seats. Currently, plus-size passengers can pay for an extra seat in advance and later get a refund, or request a free extra seat at the airport. Under the new policy, refunds are still possible but not guaranteed. Southwest said in a statement it is updating policies to prepare for assigned seating next year.
Cracker Barrel is sticking with its new logo. For now. But the chain is also apologizing to fans who were angered when the change was announced last week.
Elon Musk on Monday targeted Apple and OpenAI in an antitrust lawsuit alleging that the iPhone maker and the ChatGPT maker are teaming up to thwart competition in artificial intelligence.
