Not humans vs machines: Satya Nadella

Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella (right) waves as Saqib Shaikh, who is blind, stands at the conclusion of the keynote address of the Microsoft Build Conference in San Francisco on Wednesday. (Photo: AP)

Envisaging a technological future where computers can learn human language and have conversations with people, Microsoft’s India-born CEO Satya Nadella has said companies need to build “respectful” technology which gets the best of humanity and not the worst.

“We want to take the power of human language and apply it more pervasively to all of the computing interface and interactions,” Mr Nadella said on Thursday in his keynote address to thousands of developers at Microsoft’s annual Build 2016 conference here.

“To do that you have to infuse (intelligence) into the computers around us, you have to bring forth these technologies of artificial intelligence in machine learning so that we can teach computers to learn the human language, have conversational understanding, teach them about the broad contexts of personal preferences and knowledge so that they can help you with your everyday task,” Mr Nadella, 48, said.

He envisaged a future where the machine is not against man but works with humans to offer seamless interface and experience in day-to-day learning.

“All technology that we built has to be more inclusive and respectful.. We want to build technology that gets the best of humanity and not the worst,” Nadella said.

“We want to build intelligence that augments human abilities and experiences. Ultimately it is not going to be about man versus machine. It is going to be about man with machines,” he said adding that this will help the world to move its society forward.