Victor Tangermann February 22, 2025 3 min read
Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella, whose company has invested billions of dollars in ChatGPT maker OpenAI, has had it with the constant hype surrounding AI.
During an appearance on podcaster Dwarkesh Patel's show this week, Nadella offered a reality check.
"Us self-claiming some [artificial general intelligence] milestone, that's just nonsensical benchmark hacking to me," Nadella told Patel.
Instead, the CEO argued that we should be looking at whether AI is generating real-world value instead of mindlessly running after fantastical ideas like AGI.
To Nadella, the proof is in the pudding. If AI actually has economic potential, he argued, it'll be clear when it starts generating measurable value.
"So, the first thing that we all have to do is, when we say this is like the Industrial Revolution, let's have that Industrial Revolution type of growth," he said.
"The real benchmark is: the world growing at 10 percent," he added. "Suddenly productivity goes up and the economy is growing at a faster rate. When that happens, we'll be fine as an industry."
Needless to say, we haven't seen anything like that yet. OpenAI's top AI agent — the tech that people like OpenAI CEO Sam Altman say is poised to upend the economy — still moves at a snail's pace and requires constant supervision.
So Nadella's line of thinking is surprisingly down-to-Earth. Besides pushing back against the hype surrounding artificial general intelligence — the realization of which OpenAI has made its number one priority — Nadella is admitting that generative AI simply hasn't generated much value so far.
As of right now, the economy isn't showing much sign of acceleration, and certainly not because of an army of AI agents. And whether it's truly a question of "when" — not "if," as he claims — remains a hotly debated subject.
There's a lot of money on the line, with tech companies including Microsoft and OpenAI pouring hundreds of billions of dollars into AI.
Chinese AI startup DeepSeek really tested the resolve of investors earlier this year by demonstrating that its cutting-edge reasoning model, dubbed R1, could keep up with the competition, but at a tiny fraction of the price. The company ended up punching a $1 trillion hole in the industry after triggering a massive selloff.
Then there are nagging technical shortcomings plaguing the current crop of AI tools, from constant "hallucinations" that make it an ill fit for any critical functions to cybersecurity concerns.
Nadella's podcast appearance could be seen as a way for Microsoft to temper some sky-high expectations, calling for a more rational, real-world approach to measure success.
At the same time, his actions tell a strikingly different story. Microsoft has invested $12 billion in OpenAI and has signed on to president Donald Trump's $500-billion Stargate project alongside OpenAI CEO Sam Altman.
After multi-hyphenate billionaire Elon Musk questioned whether Altman had secured the funds, Nadella appeared to stand entirely behind the initiative.
"All I know is I’m good for my $80 billion," he told CNBC last month in response to Musk's accusations.
Beautiful song. Made me do some research the first time I listened to it, turns out it's a myth coming from Plato, in his 'Symposium'
This. Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency had both a UK (cool) and an US (downright OUTSTANDING) version. If you can only watch one of them, pick the US one.
It's a screen with an image of the convenience store, an image of a customer, and a textbox where you and an AI argue. Very basic.
He clearly says "You need to try, Linux". He's talking to someone named Linux. Someone that needs to try.
Tl:dr: Avoid ultra processed foods. Eat natural foods since they are less 'energetically dense' Eat crunchy foods instead of soft foods forces you to eat at a slower pace
I didn't know this site (colossal), but i like it! Thank you!
Not sure if i should take this arricle seriously. Is it aimed at deepseek, china, AI? Why deepSeek and china specifically, and not their american or european counterparts?
DeepSeek wasn't developped by the chinese communist party, can be replaced by any other efficient AI for the same results and is open-source, so i don't see what 'export' means in the title.
Please help me understand
AI is at a dead end. AGI or superintelligent AI promised years ago are nowhere to be seen, self driving cars are not a thing. The best escape route for AI businesses is to promise the possibility of weaponizing AI. After all, the dead can't complain.
You got my curiosity! Do you have other movies like this one you liked?
C'est exactement ça!
Alternatives to discord, open source or not:
Bad drawing, but I learned a lot. About contrasts, and about using some neutral gray watercolor ink, alongside traditional watercolor paint. Drawing without outlines is tricky!
When cooking TVP (textured vegetal proteins), a simple and quick way to remove the awful soy taste: just add a little bit of vinegar. Add the vegetables and spices you want and a little bit of water.
If everything is cooked but some of the water hasn't fully evaporated, no big deal: just add a bit of corn starch and mix. The juices will become a sauce and you'll feel like a chinese restaurant Chef.
Hello.
I do drawings like this one (1) I have two fude nib fountain pens: Hongdian pen with converter and bent nib 0.5-1.2mm (2 left) Inkursive Manga pen (2 right)
I love my Hongdian pen, but the ink capacity is limited compared to the inkursive. (3) The inkursive has a greater ink capacity but its nib is shorter and less useful to me. (4)
I'm looking for a fountain pen that would combine the ink capacity of the Inkursive and the amazing bent nib of the Hongdian.
Can you point me in the right direction?
Il y a deux jeux gratuits, accessibles et fun qui nous ont fait passer d'excellents moments et que je souhaite partager avec vous: Sexy Battle Wizards de Grant Howitt et Lasers and Feelings de John Harper.
Sexy Battle Wizards est un jeu dans lequel vous n'avez que trois stats: Sexy, Battle et Wizard. Votre personnage est défini par l'ordre dans lesquels vous organisez ces statistiques (la meilleure, la moyenne, la moins bonne) Chaque action est associée à l'une de ces stats, ce qui rend à la fois la création de perso très rapide (reste à choisir un nom, une école de magie et une arme et vous êtes prêts) et l'impro très simple car thématiquement dirigée par ces statistiques. C'est simple et génial, et gratuit. Il est disponible ici: https://gshowitt.itch.io/
Encore plus fort, avec uniquement une stat coincée entre deux opposés: Laser and Feelings, LE simulateur d'aventures déjantées à la sauce Star Trek, où chaque action est soit Laser (rationnelle, calculée, scientifique, active) soit Feelings (impulsive, fougueuse, empathique, réactive). Votre stat est un curseur entre ces deux extrêmes, et votre lancé de d6 devra respectivement être au dessus ou au dessous de votre stat. C'est d'une élégante simplicité mais aussi hyper accessible et laissant la part belle à l'improvisation. Le jeu est très fun et gratuit, dispo ici: http://www.onesevendesign.com/laserfeelings/
Et vous, quels sont vos jdr d'une page préférés?
I'm bad at shadows, so I exercise like this, in a slightly Mignola's style (the creator of Hellboy comics)