- Microsoft’s CEO outlines the potential of AI for businesses
- Satya Nadella says artificial intelligence should augment, not replace, human workers
- Microsoft releases new research noting how many firms are eager to embrace AI
Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella has again sought to emphasize the potential of what AI technologies can bring to businesses of all sizes
In a wide-ranging keynote that opened the Microsoft AI Tour London event, Nadella outlined how the company seeks to empower all organizations with its improved systems and services, but also outlined how the company thinks about AI as a whole.
“We’ve had some very powerful ways of thinking about what computing means to us,” he noted, “(so) you can think of like when you’re working with agents, it’s like we’re working with an infinite set of minds.”
AI “empowering” business
“There’s a lot of talk about what AI can do and what it means — for us, it’s fundamentally the technology that’s going to deliver on the mission to empower us and the institutions and organizations we’re building to be able to achieve more,” Nadella said.
“When you think about any technology that is applied, you will be sure that your ability to deliver the product or service will improve, your experience for your own employees will now be far superior than it was before, and your internal operations will be more efficient.”
Nadella introduced the three parts of what Microsoft sees as the AI stack—namely, the experience, the platform for building agents, and the token factory.
But he also noted how intelligence and trust are key functions first and foremost, noting how this should be a combination of the systems and the human capital – and how this is put together without an organization.
“The goal is really to make sure you’re able to concretely point to how your organization has been able to build more intelligence inside the business,” Nadella said.
Importantly, he also highlighted the importance of human workers being augmented, not replaced by AI – another important layer of trust, noting, “for us, making sure there’s absolute trust – so when you implement AI, you build the next layer of intelligence and trust, that’s the most important thing for us to drive towards.”
“For us, it’s about being able to translate this next-generation platform, this powerful new technology, to ultimately have real-world impact right here,” Nadella concluded, “being able to make a small business more productive, to make the public sector more efficient, to make the startups in the ecosystem more globally competitive, the big companies to be more globally competitive — it’s all about these transformational stories.”
The news came as Microsoft’s UK arm revealed new research showing business leaders are worried about falling behind when it comes to making the most of AI.
The survey of a thousand senior decision-makers at UK companies found that 84% of organizations are now gaining competitive advantage from artificial intelligence – a big increase from the 40% who believed this 12 months ago.
The report also noted how business confidence has increased, with 84% of executives now reporting that they have a clear AI strategy in place, up from 46% in 2025.
“There has been a fundamental shift in the UK where AI is no longer experimental or tactical,” noted Microsoft UK CEO Darren Hardman, “and leaders are increasingly confident that they can turn AI into real business impact.”
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