Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella is asking the tech industry to take a serious look at the real-world value it provides, particularly given the massive amount of energy Artificial Intelligence (AI) systems consume.
Speaking at Y Combinator's AI Startup School, Nadella pushed the tech industry to justify the environmental cost of running large-scale AI.
“If you’re going to use energy, you better have social permission to use it,” he said. “We just can’t consume energy unless we are creating social and economic value,” India Today reports
Nadella's statements come at a time when AI is being praised as the future of innovation while simultaneously being criticised for its potential to worsen inequality and deplete resources.
For Microsoft, one of the world's largest creators of AI technology, the subject is very relevant. According to Clean View Energy's 2023 study, Microsoft utilised approximately 24 terawatt-hours of electricity last year, which is nearly equivalent to a small country's annual usage.
In this context, Nadella insists that the true measure of success for AI lies in how effectively it can solve everyday problems, like “making healthcare, education, and paperwork faster and more efficient.”
He provided a startling example of the American healthcare system, in which inefficiencies frequently drive up costs. He stated that a basic task like hospital discharge can save time, money, and energy if done using an AI model, emphasising how AI could help simplify bureaucratic binds in overburdened institutions.
Despite the optimism, Microsoft's AI-driven vision for the future is not without human consequences. In the last year alone, the corporation has laid off nearly 6,000 employees, citing shifts caused by AI and automation, as per the India Today report.
Microsoft stated that the layoffs were part of "organisational changes necessary to best position the company for success in a dynamic marketplace."
And the upheaval might not be over. According to recent reports, Microsoft is contemplating another round of layoffs, this time focusing on its Xbox division.
The move is thought to be part of a larger corporate restructuring as the corporation approaches the end of its fiscal year.
This would mark the fourth major round of job cuts at Microsoft in just 18 months.
