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Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella on AI, the metaverse & remote work | Masters of Scale Summit 2022

From the Masters of Scale Summit stage in 2022, Satya Nadella, CEO of Microsoft, and Reid Hoffman, co-founder of LinkedIn, explore the evolving role of technology in tackling the world’s biggest challenges — from climate change to social…

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Sep 14, 202422mWatch on YouTube

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Transcript

20 min read · 3,934 words

0:00 – 0:11
Intro
1. SPSpeaker
  [on-hold music] [audience applauding]
0:11 – 1:08
Reid's Welcome and Why Microsoft–LinkedIn Worked
1. RHReid Hoffman
  So I think I will add to the introduction on something I've never told you, um, which is when Satya and I started talking about, uh, combining Microsoft and LinkedIn, I knew there was a bunch of different, very good ways in which the missions were friends, the cultures cared about how do you elevate human potential, and how do you make them productive. And I knew that that was gonna be part of the magic of combining the companies. What I didn't fully know was that part of the magic would be also working with you. Um, because not only is Satya a, a extremely smart and accomplished, skilled executive, but also genuinely looks at this kind of large scale and what are the things that, uh, the world is coming, and how do you take your responsibilities for that world very seriously in shaping the world you wanna get. So it's been a honor and a pleasure being on this journey with you.
2. SNSatya Nadella
  No, thank you so much, Reid. And the next time the board does my evaluation, I'll ask you to put that in. [laughs]
3. RHReid Hoffman
  [laughs] Yes. I, I would be delighted to do that.
4. SNSatya Nadella
  [laughs]
5. RHReid Hoffman
  Um,
1:08 – 4:03
Doing More with Less: Technology for Global Challenges
1. RHReid Hoffman
  so let's start from the, the, from the very scope of the world, which is, you know, obviously we have, um, wars, uh, pandemics, and markets, oh my. We have, you know, climate change, world on fire. We'll be talking to Bill about that at the, you know, closing, uh, of the last session of the conference. But one of the things that you're doing and very much focused on your mission is: how do you, uh, essentially, uh, use technology to help solve these large problems? What are the-- what's the shape of the kind of the, the ways that people should think about, you know, kind of technology, and they solve, uh, solving scale problems in the world ahead in this world that has so much challenge?
2. SNSatya Nadella
  Yeah. No, it's, it's something that I've been thinking a lot about. In fact, uh, you talked, since you sort of mentioned Bill, the month when that Popular Electronics magazine came out, you know, which I guess Bill picked up along with Paul Allen and started Microsoft, the same week, there was a Newsweek cover which talked about the energy crisis, inflation. Uh, and so that juxtaposition [laughs] of those two magazine covers, um, sort of I think are back with us, uh, s- in some sense, which is you have all the things that you talked about, uh, as the challenges or constraints. And so, so this idea of doing more with less, of course, I come at it with the bias of software as the most malleable resource that we have, that we now gotta use to tame, uh, all of what's happening. But the way I think about-- Let, let's talk about more. What is, what is more? I would say economic growth. I mean, uh, if I look at human history, the last two hundred and fifty years have been pretty unique, right? It is the scientific revolution combined with a whole bunch of other things that happened, uh, which created modern life. Uh, we've enjoyed it, except we do have real challenges. Let's take energy, right? Then whatever economic growth that comes next cannot break the planet.
3. RHReid Hoffman
  Yep.
4. SNSatya Nadella
  Uh, we definitely also need more social cohesion inside the United States in the world, so that means we have to deal with inequities. Um, right? So, so to me, thinking about technology that drives economic growth while we h-- uh, it's in some sense, we need a new constraint solver where you need economic growth, but don't break the planet, create more trust, create more equity. Uh, and that's what I think I, I'm at, uh, most excited about, or at least that's what Microsoft's mission is. And in fact, the way I describe it is: what if we now-- maybe during the founding of Microsoft, you picked one magazine and sort of created history. This time around, pick both the covers-
5. RHReid Hoffman
  [laughs] Yes
6. SNSatya Nadella
  ... uh, and then go to work on it.
4:03 – 9:02
Copilot and Amplifying Human Capability
1. RHReid Hoffman
  And, and speaking of creating history, we are in this huge shift in artificial intelligence, and one of the things that I think that, uh, Microsoft is, is doing very well is thinking about how to amplify human beings. And one of the products we already have in the market is Copilot.
2. SNSatya Nadella
  Yeah.
3. RHReid Hoffman
  So say a little bit about Copilot, and say how that isn't just, like, why it's really interesting on, for engineering and developers and how technology, the creation of technology, but also go to how this is a way that all professionals, all creatives should be thinking about what kinds of transformations are coming down the pike.
4. SNSatya Nadella
  Yeah, I mean, this... If you step back for a second, uh, I think B- uh, Greg Brockman is also coming later.
5. RHReid Hoffman
  Yes.
6. SNSatya Nadella
  Uh, what's happening with these large, uh, multimodal models, um, is pretty phenomenal. Um, and essentially, the curve on intelligence, basically by throwing more compute, you're creating more intelligence. Um, so let's take that. Um, you know, if you don't, you know, Greg, I'm sure will talk a lot more about it, but let's take that as a given. The-- I love this idea or this metaphor of a copilot, uh, because it's, it goes back to, I think, to the theme of Masters of Scale. It's such an empowering word even, right? So I'm the pilot, and I have a copilot. Um, the GitHub Copilot, it's essentially it's an AI pair programmer, right? Uh, in fact, it's, it's the thing that makes me feel just great every weekend. Whenever I feel like I bring up VS Code, you know, it's kind of... Believe me, I mean, I wish I could code better.
7. RHReid Hoffman
  [laughs]
8. SNSatya Nadella
  Uh, but you know, but nowadays with thanks to GitHub Copilot, I can get into anything and feel like a super person, like super programmer. Um, the idea that you can really tame the learning curve on the most sort of intense knowledge work, right, software programming, is just pretty phenomenal. I mean, uh, one of the... The i-- you can prompt for whatever it is that you wanna do Um, and it'll generate the code for you.
9. RHReid Hoffman
  Yeah.
10. SNSatya Nadella
  But it's just not that, right? You can just highlight a bunch of code. This is stuff that we have in the labs now, which is you can highlight a bunch of code. It'll explain it for you in English, right? Which is sort of a great way to learn it. Let's say, you know, one of the things that's happening is everybody's saying, "Hey, C++ to Rust," right? Which is sort of, how do I move to perhaps a more security-first language from C++? And it'll translate it for you.
11. RHReid Hoffman
  Yes.
12. SNSatya Nadella
  So if you have something of that nature, and it's like i-i-inside of the data we have, it's around 30%, 40% of the code is being generated by the AI programmer, but you're still in the loop, right? The way the design even works is you don't feel the loss of control. If anything, you feel more in control, more productive, more empowered, and I love that human feeling. And somebody sort of described this to me, which is when the first computers came, how people felt using them is how I think the Copilot re- uh, captures it. And to your point, it'll change everything. Like we're working with Autodesk on Maya. Uh, y- so you can imagine architecture, industrial design, uh, pretty much any field, you can have a Copilot for everything. And so that I think is a great metaphor. Uh, there will be automation and full automation. Somebody gave me this nice sort of l- uh, AI metaphor of you are, um, in the loop, on the loop, or off the loop.
13. RHReid Hoffman
  Huh.
14. SNSatya Nadella
  Uh, it's sort of a good way to think about-
15. RHReid Hoffman
  Uh-huh
16. SNSatya Nadella
  ... the three designs.
17. RHReid Hoffman
  Yep.
18. SNSatya Nadella
  Uh, this one is you're in the loop, uh, and that's a place to focus on.
19. RHReid Hoffman
  Yeah, I, I mean, it's one of the things that I think is, gets so often lost in the discussion of artificial intelligence is that there-- 'cause it's like, well, okay, you know, look at Hollywood video. Most of it's like Terminator, Ex Machina, et cetera, et cetera. We're-- The revolution we're in is enabling human beings, right? We will get to other questions that will be important questions around equity, important questions around handling it. But the amplifying, giving all human beings superpowers, like that was one of the things that DALL-E, which you're also doing with Designer, [laughs] right? Which is, you know, how do you make everyone and all of their skills more able to do amazing things?
20. SNSatya Nadella
  A hundred percent. And then, then the one other thing, uh, Reid, you mentioned, let's take this entire energy transition. I have not understood this, and there are many more experts. You're talking to Bill later. But the, the thing that I, [laughs] I didn't realize is in order to move the world from one paradigm to the other, we kind of have to compress maybe 150 years of chemistry into like five years, ten years, twenty years. There's no way we can do that without a copilot for it. Uh, like in other words, just finding the new molecules that completely change, uh, what is our petrochemical base, that's the type of stuff that I think is doing more with less to me.
21. RHReid Hoffman
  Yep.
9:02 – 11:36
Adapting Skills and Careers: Excel-Class Skills for AI
1. RHReid Hoffman
  And, and what do you think when, when, when people think about, uh, what are the ways that they should kind of approach their own skills and careers? Like you also mentioned already with Copilot, your own coding, but when they're thinking about these tools, how should they think about, "How do I adjust? How do I help? How do I lead my organization to adjust?" What's the ways to think about this?
2. SNSatya Nadella
  Yeah, it's-- First of all, l- one of the things that I'm most ex-- When, when we think about digital capability building, right? I go back, you know, when the PC was born, um, I, I, I distinctly remember the first time I used a spreadsheet. Uh, I don't know how you all felt, but, you know, it's just, well, I mean, Excel is my most favorite-
3. RHReid Hoffman
  [laughing]
4. SNSatya Nadella
  ... spreadsheet.
5. RHReid Hoffman
  [laughing]
6. SNSatya Nadella
  You know, what the-- I might as well admit it, right? Or, uh-
7. RHReid Hoffman
  [laughs]
8. SNSatya Nadella
  The re-- But think about it, right? When you first were able to make sense of numbers, right? Your relationship with numbers changed.
9. RHReid Hoffman
  Yes.
10. SNSatya Nadella
  Um, and so knowledge work in particular, in the early nineties as it started spreading, uh, you could even say late eighties, but early nineties is when with sort of the graphical interface completely changed. Um, interestingly enough, the question is, what is that-- what is the moral equivalent of that? Um, I do believe a domain expert who has, I'll call it Excel class skills, can they create automation? Can they create workflows? That's sort of, I think, the real, uh, way to think about even skilling. So one of the things is there will always be elite skills. No, no, you know, like the people doing these large scale AI models is one side. But the most exciting thing to me is the Excel-like skills that are gonna spread around the world in every domain. In fact, one of the things that I've seen even in the pandemic, where there wasn't enough time to go to the digital team to have them build stuff for you, uh, domain experts were turning to robotic process automation or these low-code, no-code tools to create applications. And guess what? They were being assisted by AI. In fact, we have in Power Platform the idea that you could just take pictures of, say, some design you drew on a piece of napkin and turn it into an app, right? So there is AI that does the forms recognition, generates the code, and then you can probably add a formula or two. That type of skill is, is-- in, in some sense, it takes the domain skill you have and makes it a digital skill, and that's just fundamental amplification.
11:36 – 14:07
The Metaverse and Digital Twins
1. RHReid Hoffman
  Yeah. This blurring and crossover of the world between atoms and bits is actually one of the things I think is really leading to the, to the amplification. So let's, let's, let's, uh, add to this, uh, metaverse, and, um, start with digital twinning, right? So like, because part of the whole thing about being able to amplify the world we live in, the world we navigate, is to use these tools within simulation environments, within, uh, and be able to apply them in a much stronger way. So what's the, what's, what's the way that you're thinking about this?
2. SNSatya Nadella
  Yeah, I mean- The way at least I think about it is all of, um, the software categories we've always had are all about essentially creating digital twins, uh, y- of people, places, and things, right? So there's-- [chuckles] You know, Bill would always say to me, "There's only one software category. It's called information management." And I never understood what the heck does he mean by that.
3. RHReid Hoffman
  [laughing]
4. SNSatya Nadella
  But it fundamentally is, that's all it is. You schematize the world, uh, and then that helps you re- you know, reason about the world. But the point about the metaverse to me is we have done it by, uh, reference, right? So you schematize something you know about a person, a place, a, a thing, whereas for the first time, you now can do it by value, right? So you can schematize the actual place, um, or, or digitize the actual place, the actual thing, the actual person, and then you put the two things together, right? Em-embodied presence in a place without being there. That's a killer app, right? I mean, Teams meetings are fantastic, but what if we can have this type of setting where embodied presence, uh, can actually happen? That, to me, is the killer app, uh, in, you know, in a world where we move towards the metaverse. But to your point about digital twins, I must say this, like, uh, w- uh, even in the pandemic, one place where we saw a lot of acceleration is every warehouse, every factory, uh, effectively got digitized. Um, and the benefits of digitization mean that you can run in simulation, uh, that is less w- less waste, less energy, more accuracy, the ability to sort of remotely debug things. So I think that, uh, to, to some degree, the, uh, thinking about this i- as just the next phase where we are digitizing by value, not just by reference, is probably a good way to sort of think about the metaverse.
5. RHReid Hoffman
  Yep.
14:07 – 16:26
How the Cloud Powers the Metaverse and AI
1. RHReid Hoffman
  And how does the, the metaverse work, which obviously, you know, people-- it's very easy for people to imagine things like Snow Crash and entertainment and all the rest. But part of what I wanted to highlight, 'cause this is a bunch of the work that, that Microsoft and you guys are doing, is it's not just that. It's how you work. It's how you solve difficult problems. It's how you, uh, you know, kind of, uh, game out things, those things. Now, how is that, uh, a core part of the cloud revolution? So talk a little bit about how metaverse and cloud go together.
2. SNSatya Nadella
  Yeah, I mean, the, the thing that I find, um, that cloud has just done is for any category, whether it is AI or for metaverse, is created abundance of compute.
3. RHReid Hoffman
  Mm.
4. SNSatya Nadella
  That-- At that-- At the foundational level, I mean, if you think about it, right, you know, you had the mainframes, you had the minis, you had the client-server revolutions. They were all about sort of really creating more elasticity in some sense of compute. But the cloud is truly the first time where you can, uh, just throw lots more compute at any problem you want. The other thing is, especially at a time when Moore's law seems to be running out of gas, uh, you now need new system architectures. Uh, like, uh, basically, in order to be able to train these large-scale AI models, we had to sort of completely build a new type of supercomputer, uh, which is very different than what you would do to run just, say, regular enterprise VMs or what have you. So that, to me, is what is really helpful, which is you can have different system architectures. Uh, in order to think about real-time streaming or-- and visualization, uh, is a very different type of workload, but-- uh, that requires different type of computation, and we can build a cloud for that and then make it elastic. You can do the same thing for training. You can do the same thing for inference. So that, to me, is why I think the cloud revolution is still in the very early stages. But the way I, I myself, having started in the Microsoft cloud way back in, say, twenty-ten, and to recognize it now, I just can't. I mean, it's just a very different beast.
5. RHReid Hoffman
  Yeah.
6. SNSatya Nadella
  Uh, and so when we say cloud, what do we mean? We mean compute systems that are changing by the nature of the workloads.
7. RHReid Hoffman
  Yep.
16:26 – 20:14
The Flexibility vs. Connection Paradox in Hybrid Work
1. RHReid Hoffman
  And, and then to, to shift a little, let's talk about the future of collaboration. We've all come out of, you know, the pandemic. We've all kind of suddenly gotten shift-- many of us gotten shift in location. Um, we have this kind of question, and this may also be you in terms of how you're leading Microsoft, not just the tech. But it's like, you know, seventy percent of people say, according to Microsoft data, they, they want more of this flexibility, but also seventy percent say they want more human connection. So how is it both leading Microsoft and the tools you're navigating this, you know, apparent paradox?
2. SNSatya Nadella
  It's hard. [laughing]
3. RHReid Hoffman
  [laughing]
4. SNSatya Nadella
  Um, yeah, it's, it's, it's-- For-- Let, let-- First let-- You know what? Because, um, there are a lot of people, uh, who during even all of this came to work, right? So the first-line workers, you know, whatever, sixty percent of the workforce didn't have the option of working remotely or working from home. So I think let's recognize that. But having said that, I think the, the kno- the knowledge workers, uh, there's just a real structural shift. Um, we did a survey recently, uh, or just looked at data pretty broadly across sectors, across geos, um, and there were three findings that at least we are staring at, including ourselves at Microsoft. [chuckles] The first one is what we describe as this, uh, productivity paradox, right? I mean, to-- you know, eighty-five percent of the managers think their employees are slacking off, and eighty-five percent of the employees think that they're working too hard, and they're burnt out.
5. RHReid Hoffman
  [laughing]
6. SNSatya Nadella
  Right? So, I mean... And it's real data.
7. RHReid Hoffman
  [laughing]
8. SNSatya Nadella
  Um, and so we have this paradox as to how can you sort of see the same thing in two different ways. Um- And so the only way around it, Reid, to me is you gotta use data. In other words, dogma is not gonna help. Um, and you now need to ground yourself on how do you act... For example, have aligned goals. If anything, I, I think as leaders, we have to learn how to bring clarity to what is the output, uh, that you would like, you'd like to see, what are the, uh, measures of it, and then using that to see whether it's working or not, and then create the norms. The other piece that's very [laughs] interesting is, I mean, think about it, right? Uh, in the introduction of this summit, you sort of talked about people came here not because you sort of set a policy and mandated it. They came for other people, right? People come for people, not for policy.
9. RHReid Hoffman
  Yes.
10. SNSatya Nadella
  And, uh, I, I like to say that all of us are now event managers, right? It's not just the-
11. RHReid Hoffman
  [laughs]
12. SNSatya Nadella
  Uh, believe me, if I say I have a meeting, nobody's gonna show up.
13. RHReid Hoffman
  [laughs]
14. SNSatya Nadella
  Uh, but if I say, "Oh, I have an event," um-
15. RHReid Hoffman
  [laughs]
16. SPSpeaker
  [laughs]
17. SNSatya Nadella
  ... people are gonna come.
18. RHReid Hoffman
  Yes.
19. SNSatya Nadella
  Um, at least once, you know, and then-
20. RHReid Hoffman
  [laughs]
21. SPSpeaker
  [laughs]
22. SNSatya Nadella
  And so you really have to learn, I think, as a leader, new soft skills around how to create occasions. What does it mean, uh, to hold an event? Um, and then I would say the last thing is I think every one of us, you know, grew a lot during the pandemic. Uh, just because you had one onboarding, which was a remote onboarding, means nothing, right? You have to re-recruit, re-energize. So there's a lot of tough, tough work, but there's lots of tools. There's lots of technologies. But y- the interesting scarce commodity, I think, is a little bit of what is the new set of soft, and a new set of soft skills and leadership skills we have to learn. Just because you were a great leader in 2019-
23. RHReid Hoffman
  [laughs]
24. SNSatya Nadella
  ... you can't go, keep going back and saying, "I just want the world to look like 2019." It just... I mean, maybe it will, but I don't think so.
20:14 – 22:26
Closing Advice for Leaders: Optimism and Energy
1. RHReid Hoffman
  Yeah, wishes were fishes. All right. So we are actually in overtime, so very quickly, leaders in this room, leaders on the live feed, run other teams, one message about how the world is changing, technology, workforce, et cetera. What would it be?
2. SNSatya Nadella
  I think the, the thing the world needs today more than anything else from leaders is optimism and energy. Uh, it's easy to sort of be down on everything. Well, the way you started the conversation, uh-
3. SPSpeaker
  [laughs]
4. RHReid Hoffman
  That's my role. [laughs]
5. SNSatya Nadella
  Not that you were referencing the world.
6. RHReid Hoffman
  Yes. [laughs]
7. SNSatya Nadella
  So what does a leader do? I, I think my true measure of any leader is who can come into a situation, bring clarity, generate energy, and solve over-constrained problems. And as long as you do those three things, then I think we'll be a better place.
8. RHReid Hoffman
  Satya, always amazing.
9. SNSatya Nadella
  Thank you so much.
10. RHReid Hoffman
  Thank you. Thank you.
11. SPSpeaker
  [clapping]
12. SPSpeaker
  [upbeat music] What's said at the summit stays at the summit. Everybody will have to pay attention.
13. SPSpeaker
  Almost no one sees this coming. Those founders are becoming more globally ambitious. They're coming after your talent, your capital, your market share. The difficulty is when a team has been working so hard on one thing.
14. SPSpeaker
  If you are trying to use your time and your talents and your money in the service of others, the work will never end.
15. SNSatya Nadella
  We have to deal with the inequities.
16. SPSpeaker
  It's different if you're a founder, but when you walk into something so big and so perfect and so successful, you know, it's not about me. It's about me becoming a part of it and just evolving it and making it better.
17. SPSpeaker
  The thing that I love about it and that makes me so optimistic is that there's, it's just creating more dialogue.
18. SNSatya Nadella
  I'm here to tell you that, wow, human innovation's incredible.
19. RHReid Hoffman
  This is Masters of Scale Summit. [upbeat music]