Microsoft chairman and chief executive officer (CEO) Satya Nadella has said the cloud will be foundational to scaling India’s digital journey, and that bigger language model-based AI tools like OpenAI's Dall-E or ChatGPT will play a crucial role in deciding the future workforce. “You are seeing the emergence of new reasoning engines. We must think how it’ll augment every one of us in whatever we are doing.”
While speaking at the Microsoft Future Ready Leadership Summit in Mumbai, as part of his four-day India visit, the Microsoft CEO said with advanced AI, every knowledge worker is going to be more creative, more expressive, more productive. "Every frontline worker will be able to do more knowledge work than they ever did. Every design task, whether it’s software engineering, mechanical design, architecture, is going to be that much more productive going forward," he said.
The Microsoft CEO said in his opinion, AI will accelerate human creativity, human ingenuity and human productivity across a range of tasks.
He also interacted with top business leaders and reinforced the digital imperative for every organisation, and how the Microsoft Cloud can foster innovation, create broad economic progress, and accelerate the growth of businesses in India.
"Sharing his vision for a tech-enabled India, he highlighted how the cloud will be foundational to scaling India’s digital journey and how Microsoft is innovating across the tech stack to support the country’s ecosystem of developers, startups and companies across every industry," he said.
He said Microsoft has operated in India for over 32 years. The country is a hub of innovation and resourcefulness, with India expected to become the world’s third-biggest economy by 2033.
Nadella also highlighted how organisations -- big and small -- are transforming with Microsoft’s tech stack and solution areas. "State Bank of India (SBI) uses power apps to accelerate innovation internally, addressing challenges like effectively capturing marketing leads to ensuring ATMs are accessible for people with disabilities," he said.
He added the government of India’s ministry of electronics and IT uses Azure AI to transcend language barriers through its Bhashini initiative, which aims to make multiple Indian languages accessible via translation.
Microsoft, meanwhile, has launched the FY22 India impact summary, a comprehensive annual report sharing progress against Microsoft’s environmental, social, and governance efforts across the company and our ecosystem.
The report spans four broad areas, contributing to the progress in India -- inclusive economic growth, advanced fundamental rights, sustainable future and earning trust. The company said economic growth should be inclusive — for every person, organisation, community, and country.
On fundamental rights, the company said via Airband Initiative, internet service provider AirJaldi has extended connectivity to over 29 million people in nine Indian states and 50 districts in rural and semi-urban areas. The company said its sustainability goals include ambitious commitments and detailed plans to achieve them as well as helping others set and achieve their own climate goals.
