Microsoft CEO Argues AI is Only a Bubble if No One Uses It
A perfect reassurance for many to continue NOT using it.
"Is AI a bubble?" and "If it is a bubble, what would its bursting look like?" – I don't think I would be going out on a limb by saying these two are among the most frequently asked questions about the artificial intelligence industry.
And while the latter is somewhat easier to answer – mass layoffs, company shutdowns, all the usual stuff – the former is far more challenging to answer conclusively, partly because of the biases on both the AI-is-a-bubble and AI-is-not-a-bubble sides, but mostly due to both camps actually having compelling arguments to offer.
Stepping into this debate is Microslop Microsoft head honcho Satya Nadella, who recently shared his take on whether the AI industry is a bubble, and somewhat surprisingly – for a through-and-through corpo with a clear financial incentive to hype AI as a thing greater than sliced bread – he didn't outright dismiss the idea that AI might be a bubble.
Speaking at the ongoing World Economic Forum in Davos, Nadella commented that AI is only a bubble if no one but tech companies – i.e., the suppliers – is interested in adopting, promoting, and leveraging the technology. In layman's terms, if everyone uses AI, it isn't a bubble, and if only big tech does, then it is a bubble indeed, and one that could burst at any moment – which sounds like a pretty reassuring message for the anti-AI side to continue not engaging with artificial intelligence.
"For this not to be a bubble by definition, it requires that the benefits of this are much more evenly spread," commented the CEO. "I think a tell-tale sign of if it's a bubble would be if all we're talking about are the tech firms. If all we talk about is what's happening to the technology side – just purely supply side."
Speaking of AI usage, roughly two weeks ago, Microsoft itself published a report showing that while AI usage continues to grow, only 16.3% of our planet's working-age population is using AI tools, suggesting that, by Nadella's own definition, artificial intelligence is more likely to be a bubble than not.
At the same time, this does not contradict one of the main arguments from those who argue AI is not a bubble: the technology's military applications, and the fact that governments always find money to subsidize army tech regardless of circumstances. With that in mind, it, unfortunately, remains unclear whether the Next Big Thing will turn into a Dot-Com Crash 2.0 in the near future, or whether it will indeed become as widely adopted by the general populace as, say, cars or microwaves.
Microsoft
Microsoft
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