Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella, in a Wall Street Journal interview, criticises major AI labs and companies—including OpenAI, Anthropic and Google—for how they discuss AI’s impact and for how the industry is financed. Nadella argues that the same companies cannot warn that AI will eliminate large numbers of jobs while also seeking “unlimited” funding and extensive access to data centers. He says the current frontier-model race allows a small number of companies to capture most of the value created by AI, and he urges the industry to expand beyond that model.
Nadella promotes alternatives he says can reduce costs and broaden use of AI, including cheaper model options. He also points to DeepSeek as an example of alternatives to the largest frontier efforts. Across the reporting, Nadella frames his comments around the need to earn society’s “social permission,” suggesting AI development should account for societal impacts and public trust, not just rapid scale and innovation.
