Microsoft CEO Satya 'AI must stay under human control'

Microsoft Chairman and CEO Satya Nadella has said AI must remain under human control and called for international norms involving governments and technology companies, with an understanding between the United States and China as an essential starting point.

Speaking at the Ideas4India forum in Seattle on September 17, Nadella said powerful AI capabilities were advancing while important questions about controlling the technology remained unresolved. “We do not yet have the science of alignment, and



that’s a fact,” he said. “And yet we have powerful technology.”

The guiding principle, he said, had to be its value to people and their continued authority over it. He said “any technology that doesn’t serve humans or is not in control of humans is not worth doing”.

Nadella used a familiar software development dilemma to describe the problem: when confronted with a critical flaw, should a technology team defer dealing with it or stop the product from proceeding?