‘Can’t be controlled by a handful’: Satya Nadella joins AI slowdown debate

Amid AI giants calling for a “slowdown” in AI development over concerns that humanity could eventually lose control, Microsoft boss Satya Nadella has also backed the need for a measured approach, saying that advanced artificial intelligence systems must remain firmly under human supervision as creators pursue progress while ensuring safety.

Microsoft Chairman and CEO Satya Nadella. (AFP)In a post on X, Nadella said, “Any pursuit of superintelligence has to be grounded in the core principle that if the AI we build is not helping humanity and under human control, it's not worth pursuing.”

“We also need to accelerate and spread the benefits of AI, such that they are diffused broadly across countries, communities, and companies. This requires a frontier ecosystem in which both closed and open-source models can thrive.”

Nadella also stressed the importance of companies retaining control over their own knowledge and not becoming overly dependent on any single AI provider.

“And for firms, it’s imperative that they retain full control over their unique and tacit knowledge. Every organization should be able to build its own continuous learning loop/hill climbing machine, without becoming dependent on any one model provider, and have the ability to embed its own knowledge into models and weights they control."

"So, in this context, we welcome the research, focus, and deliberate pacing needed to get alignment right as the design goal. We also welcome ideas like "embedded evaluators" and the broader efforts to develop the mechanisms to make this more than just talk.”

He further stressed that the development of increasingly powerful AI should not be concentrated in the hands of a small number of companies or institutions, calling instead for broader participation across countries and sectors.

“The key is that this cannot be controlled by a handful of entities, but must have broad representation across the ecosystem, countries, and fields, including academia.”

“This is the approach we are taking: broad access and choice at every layer of the AI stack; enterprise control of learning loops and models; and the “Code of Conduct” that underlies our own first party MAI models that we’ll publish tomorrow for public consultation.”

Nadella’s backing comes after Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei partially agreed with the notion that artificial intelligence (AI) could “kill humans”, adding that if the right path is taken, the chance of something going wrong is very low.

OpenAI boss Sam Altman also backed Amodei’s call for a “need to pace the frontier”, saying it had been a key topic of discussion at OpenAI in recent weeks. He also endorsed Amodei’s proposal to give independent evaluators employee-like access to AI labs, adding, “we will do the same.” SpaceX CEO Elon Musk in a brief response, said, “Dario is right.”

Demis Hassabis, co-founder and chair of Google DeepMind and Chief Scientist of Alphabet also supported Amodei's call to slow the pace of AI model capabilities' improvement.

Talking about the Anthropic CEO's remarks, Hassabis emphasised that although the details need refining, the "direction is correct" for meeting this crucial moment.

"Dario's essay points towards the right path forward. The details need working through, but the direction is correct for meeting this critical moment. This is also why we recently put out our proposal for an industry-wide standards body for frontier AI,” Hassabis wrote on X.

Karishma Ayaldasani is a Senior Content Producer at Hindustan Times, based in New Delhi, where she works with the digital team on fast-moving breaking stories from India and around the world. She enjoys covering national and global news, focusing on delivering updates quickly and clearly so readers can make sense of what’s happening as it unfolds. Comfortable in high-pressure newsroom settings, she regularly contributes to live blogs, explainers and real-time coverage. Before joining Hindustan Times, she was part of the digital team at The Indian Express, worked with the social media team at Firstpost, and spent time as a creative strategist at Clematis Advertising. Outside of work, she likes exploring different art forms and unwinds with music. With over three years of experience in fast-paced newsrooms, she brings curiosity, clarity and consistency to her work.Read More