Artificial Intelligence on every desk and in every home

Microsoft was created with the now-popular mission of bringing “a computer on every desk and in every home.” This was a mission of “bringing simplicity” in accessing computers. In a world where, previously, you needed a lot of complexity (and physical space) to operate large mainframes, now, with your personal computers, you could simply operate it on your own desk, at work, even at home.

We then introduced, sometimes in that amazing, glorious period of competition with Apple, our Windows operating system and then our Microsoft Office suite, “bringing simplicity” in using computers. It was a great journey of simplified user interfaces, simplified access to advances functions, simplified ability in creating great presentations, analyzing large data with Excel, easier communication, endless gaming.

While we at Microsoft were doing this, the world moved in the very same direction: a direction of “bringing simplicity” in all our daily activities, often thanks to digital.

Only a few short years ago, renting a movie was a fairly complex process. One that involved getting in your car, driving to the store, browsing through aisles, hoping the one you selected was in stock, deciding between VHS, DVD or Blu-ray, checking out with a member card, and returning home where you might very likely forget to physically return the movie and receive a late fee.

Enter Netflix in 1997, which transitioned into an entertainment subscription service by 2007, built with personalization in its DNA. By recognizing the power of data and analytics, Netflix simplified the movie “rental” process and disrupted the industry with their superior recommendation engine. The same happened with Spotify in the music industry, with Amazon in eCommerce, and so forth.

A few years ago, under the leadership of our current CEO Satya Nadella, we then renewed our journey with a new mission statement to “empower every person and every organization on the planet to achieve more”. A new purpose of “bringing simplicity” in leveraging technology to achieve more.

This new mission was strongly enabled by could computing. To start with, Cloud Computing makes life simpler by enabling easier deployment of software across numerous IT environments. This is extremely important, as the simplicity of an application can quite easily be measured by its degree of adaptability across different verticals of the same organization.

In addition, the fact that upgrading & maintenance responsibility shifts to the vendor means Cloud computing requires less time, skill set and expenses to maintain system operations. Also, Cloud Computing provides easier validation for licenses required for applications and additional storage capacity concerns, enabling on-demand purchase. Lastly, it unburdens the load off the owners by automating tedious, repetitive tasks and letting them focus more on things that make them more revenue.

As a next step, we are now focused on “bringing simplicity” in accessing Artificial Intelligence. This is an important democratization mission. It is crucial securing that AI lead to an inclusive growth rather than just lining the pockets of the few riches. For this reason, we are developing tools that will enable every person and every organization in the world to benefit from AI. We need to evolve AI from centralized local data centers to mobile and cloud, making it accessible to all. We must eventually secure access to AI tools to all businesses, public sector organizations, and people, empowering them to build their own augmented -intelligence capabilities. Ultimately, everyone can and should benefit from the great promise of artificial intelligence, as its potential is just enormous.

Finally, we must secure we are “bringing simplicity” also in the usage of Artificial Intelligence. We must prepare for the future, including the jobs of the future. This applies to all governments, schools, public organizations, businesses, and individuals at large. Without a deliberate and proactive focus, we’re at risk of leaving people behind in the explosive growth driven by this new technology. Collectively, we need to share this priority for a growth that must be beneficial for everyone, with a strong focus on augmented education, inclusive innovation and encouraged usage of technology.

It is not humans versus machines, it is about humans with machines, each of which excel at different things. Therefore, we must (all of us) learn to work with AI, bringing our creativity, empathy, emotion, and judgment (as humans) together with the fast computation and ability to reason over large amounts of data of machines. Together, humans and machines can complement each other and help society forward in enhancing our experiences and quality of life,

Ultimately, AI can make jobs “more human” by taking advantage of our “essential human skills” and leaving all the rest to computers. We should learn how to augment our performance with technology (and yes, some of the technology will be very smart), but then add human elements to provide higher levels of customer value and services, with our very human touch.

While making this journey, which started for us in 1975, a driving force for us has always been “simplicity”, which must be behind any digital transformation, across every industry.

?Next step? Artificial Intelligence on every desk and in every home.

p.s. this is a personal perspective looking forward for other "personal perspectives"