Microsoft Boss Isn’t Concerned That AI Will Take Over

Eric Boyd, Corporate Vice President of Microsoft AI, doesn’t believe that AI will take over. Instead, he believes that the technology will be a driver for human productivity. Though there are some concerns related to the field and its effect on society, combined with concerns about rapid growth, he said that the company will continue to accelerate its work in AI.

While speaking with Sky News. Boyd echoed comments from Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella about the benefits of AI. He said in short, “The potential for this technology to really drive human productivity… to bring economic growth across the globe, is just so powerful, that we’d be foolish to set that aside.”

As many know, Microsoft has been all in with AI with new AI-powered features introduced in their suite of products, Azure, and their investments in OpenAI. This helped usher in the wildly popular Chat GPT-4 and a new AI-enhanced Bing that looks to topple Google from its number one search engine status.

Though the rapid assent of AI into the public sphere has some concerns about unintended consequences, Eric isn’t concerned that AI is poised for a planetary takeover. Instead, his vision sees the relationship between humans and computers evolving.  “It will just really redefine the interfaces that we’re used to, the way that you’re used to talking to a machine – the keyboard and your mouse and all of that. I think it becomes much more language-based.”.

When asked if claims by some leaders, such as co-founder of DeepMind, who are concerned about how AI is developing too fast, Mr. Boyd said, “Of course, we’re going to listen and give serious consideration to all the feedback that they have. But I think as you look at what these models do, what they’re capable of, you know, those concerns seem pretty far away from what we’re actually working on.”

When it comes to overall concerns about AI, he pointed to regulators as the ones who need to figure out AI’s appropriate direction. “I think as a society we’re going to have to think through what are the places that this technology is appropriate and what are the places where we have concerns about its use. But we definitely think there’s a place for regulation in this industry.”

So though Eric Boyd isn’t concerned about a Skynet scenario he sees AI as a net positive for humanity that can help humans develop a new relationship with computers.

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