Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella says pace of AI innovation in 2023 was astounding, cites favorite use-cases

Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella posted a short video on X on the pace of AI innovations in 2023 highlighting the milestones the tech firm has made over the year. Check details.

Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella showcases a carousel of achievements made by the company this year in a short video titled pace of AI innovation in 2023. (REUTERS)

Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella just dropped a short video on X (formerly Twitter) where he highlighted the achievements of the company in the artificial intelligence division. In the ‘Pace of AI innovation in 2023' video, he provided a few examples where organizations used AI tools by the company to make a positive impact on the world. Microsoft launched Copilot earlier this year, powered by OpenAI's GPT technology, and used it to build its own AI products for enterprises. In the span of just a few months, Microsoft has built several partnerships with businesses across the globe where companies are using its AI systems to build consumer-centric products, he revealed.

In the video, Nadella said, “The pace of AI innovation in 2023 was astounding – but even more impressive was how people applied this technology to make a real difference in their careers, communities, and countries. Here are some of my favorite examples”.

Satya Nadella showcases Microsoft's milestones in AI

Nadella opens the video by saying “There's no doubt 2023 was the year of AI. We are no longer talking about AI in abstract, we are seeing real product making, deployment, productivity gains”. He explained that this year has also witnessed a breakthrough in silicon production, which has also accelerated the growth of AI systems. He also praised the emergence of small language models (SLMs) and gave examples of Orca, which focuses on synthetic data creation and possesses enhanced reasoning abilities, as well as Phi, which is trained on “textbook-quality” data focusing entirely on knowledge. Both of these foundation models belong to Microsoft and are being offered as enterprise solutions.

Nadella also highlighted how a new business avenue of ‘Model as a Service' or MaaS has emerged, thanks to the AI boom. He gave the examples of Cohere, Llama, and Mistral which are bringing AI capabilities to apps and software.

"But, at the end of the day, this innovation will only be useful if we build and use it responsibly, ensuring its benefits empower each of us in our careers, in our communities, and in our countries while helping to address some of the world's pressing challenges," he said, adding that organizations were already using this technology to make a difference to the world.

Nadella gives his favorite examples of AI usage

It should be noted that all of the examples given by Nadella were from companies that partnered with Microsoft to build their AI tools.

He gave the example of Kenya-based M-Kopa which is using AI to increase digital and financial inclusion, YES (Youth Employment Service) in South Africa, which is helping people gain skills to find meaningful jobs, and France-based Simplon which is promoting equity in the workplace.

He also gave examples of other organizations that were using AI to reimagine areas such as education, cybersecurity, healthcare, content moderation, climate change, and more. In particular, he highlighted India's Jugalbandi, a new generative AI-driven chatbot on mobile devices that helps farmers and others involved in rural occupation gain easier access to government services.

Closing the video, Nadella said, “We are only just getting started. Technology, including AI, is just a tool. It's a means, not an end. And our end remains our mission to empower every person and every organization on the planet to achieve more”.