From The Verge: Now that Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella has appointed a new CEO to run Microsoft’s biggest businesses, he has a little more time on his hands for other adventures. Beyond focusing on Microsoft’s technical work, Nadella is now turning to the ancient art of blogging to discuss Microsoft’s year ahead and why he thinks everyone needs to move “beyond the arguments of [AI] slop vs sophistication.”
Nadella’s first blog entry in “sn scratchpad” is all about Microsoft and other AI companies still needing to get a bunch of stuff right with AI. Chief among them is creating a new concept for AI that evolves the “bicycles for the mind” concept that Steve Jobs used to describe computers as tools in the ’90s. “We need to get beyond the arguments of slop vs sophistication and develop a new equilibrium in terms of our ‘theory of the mind’ that accounts for humans being equipped with these new cognitive amplifier tools as we relate to each other,” says Nadella.
Nadella wants to move beyond the usual AI slop arguments, because Microsoft is betting on getting everyone hooked on AI agents instead of the Office and Windows software that has powered so many industries for decades.
This speaks to the tension with AI models right now and the fear from creatives about being edged out by AI models that are capable of copying the style of artists, designers, filmmakers, and more. We’ve been using PCs as tools for decades to create art, write code, and beyond, but Microsoft and others now want us to rely on AI agents as the new tools for creation instead — even if a lot of what is generated is slop.
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