That's the danger behind artificial intelligence, says Nadella, Microsoft's CEO

Satya Nadella, CEO of Microsoft, stands on the red carpet before receiving the Axel Springer Award.

Photo Alliance / German Press Agency | Sebastian Gollnau

Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella has been honored with the Axel Springer Award for his pioneering contributions to technology, especially artificial intelligence (AI).

At the awards ceremony, Nadella emphasized the need for trust and security mechanisms in AI tools. He says he himself has invested in projects like OpenAI to make sure AI serves people and doesn’t get out of control.

The Axel Springer Prize honors outstanding individuals who create innovative markets, influence culture, are socially committed, and encourage others to follow similar paths.

How can technology support people both professionally and personally? Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella has come up with wise ideas. They have contributed greatly to changing and shaping modern life in many ways. In recognition of his service, Nadella received the Axel Springer Award on Tuesday evening (Business Insider is part of Axel Springer) excellent.

The award was presented to him personally at the new Axel Springer building in Berlin. The award ceremony was opened with a speech by Federal Minister for Transport and Digital Affairs, Volker Vissing (FDP). The Minister spoke about one of the most important topics of the evening, which is artificial intelligence. “Microsoft is now one of the driving forces behind artificial intelligence,” he said, pointing to Microsoft’s investments in OpenAI, which makes ChatGPT. “It’s amazing what can actually be achieved with AI.”

Nadella spoke about his past and his start as CEO

After his biography, Nadella was surprised when former professional cricketer Zaheer Khan appeared and presented him with an autographed cricket bat. Nadella is a huge fan of cricket, a sport that is very popular in his native India. In 2022, Nadella and Adobe CEO Shantanu Narain teamed up to invest in the Seattle Orcas cricket team and promote the sport in the United States. Regarding his gift, he said: “I did not expect that.” “I thought I was going to get an award in the conference room,” he said. “But it’s great to be here and receive a gift from one of my cricket heroes.”

Cricket was among the many topics Nadella discussed with Matthias Döpfner, CEO of Axel Springer. The two executives also discussed the past of Microsoft, which Nadella joined in 1992. “At the time, no one thought the day would come when Bill Gates and Steve Ballmer wouldn’t be there,” Nadella said. “People say I’m honored to be CEO, but I’m just happy to have a job at Microsoft.”

They also talked about company culture, philanthropy, and of course, artificial intelligence. Nadella said that the potential of artificial intelligence in human work and personal life will be of great importance in the future. At an event earlier in the day, he called it “one of the greatest inventions since the Internet.”

“We must ensure that machines serve people.”

As one of the lead investors in OpenAI, Nadella emphasized the need for companies to integrate trust and security mechanisms into AI tools. “If AI gets out of control, it will become a problem,” he said. “We must make sure that machines serve people.”

The event ended with a humorous speech by the AI-powered chatbot Bing, which was called the “Voice of God” during the event. Regarding Nadella, the chatbot said: “Satya understands that behind every user error on the screen is a frustrated user who wants to share a photo of a cat.”

The Axel Springer Prize honors outstanding personalities who innovate in a special way, create and change markets, shape culture, and at the same time confront their social responsibility. The award recognizes what has been achieved and encourages people to take further steps. At the same time, award winners should be role models for others to realize their own ideas.

In the past, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, BioNTech founders Ozlem Turesi and Ugur Sahin, Tesla founder and CEO Elon Musk, economist and author Shoshana Zubov, Amazon founder and CEO Jeff Bezos, and Washington Post owner Sir Tim have all been arrested. Berners-Lee, as well as Meta founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg.