‘Can’t be controlled by a handful’: Satya Nadella joins AI slowdown debate

Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella has joined the ongoing debate about the need to slow down AI development, warning that humanity could eventually lose control over increasingly advanced artificial intelligence systems. In a post on X, Nadella emphasized that any pursuit of superintelligence must remain under human supervision to ensure safety and alignment with human values.

He stressed that AI systems should be designed with the core principle that they must help humanity and be under human control. Nadella also called for a broader distribution of AI benefits across countries, communities, and companies, emphasizing the importance of both open-source and closed-source models coexisting in a frontier ecosystem.

Companies should maintain control over their unique and tacit knowledge, he added, ensuring they can build their own continuous learning loops without becoming overly dependent on any single AI provider. Nadella welcomed the research, focus, and deliberate pacing needed to align AI development with safety and ethical considerations, stressing that the development should not be concentrated in the hands of a small number of companies or institutions.

He advocated for broad representation across the ecosystem, countries, and fields, including academia, and welcomed ideas like embedded evaluators and mechanisms to make AI development a reality beyond mere talk.