Kevin Scott on Microsoft's Broad Vision: AI as a Platform, Radical Markets, and Ethical Tech Governance

This podcast features Kevin Scott, CTO of Microsoft, discussing the company's expansive portfolio and its forward-looking approach to technology and society. Scott describes Microsoft as a "kid in a candy store" due to its diverse projects, spanning cloud services, productivity software, operating systems, hardware, gaming (Xbox), and a broad research group that even delves into economics with concepts like "radical markets." He highlights Microsoft's enduring identity as a platform company, emphasizing its mission to empower others rather than solely accrue value for itself.

A central theme is the development and ethical deployment of Artificial Intelligence, which Scott views as one of the most critical societal questions of our time. He advocates for AI to be a platform, akin to the steam engine, democratizing access and enabling millions to build businesses and solve problems, rather than being controlled by a handful of companies. This perspective ties into the concept of "data dignity" or "data as labor," a research area at Microsoft involving Jaron Lanier and Glenn Weyl, which explores mechanisms to value individual data contributions and create transparent marketplaces for them, addressing the current lack of compensation for the vast amounts of data people generate.

Scott reflects on Microsoft's evolution from its original mission of putting a PC on every desk to Satya Nadella's broader vision of empowering every individual and organization globally. He touches upon emerging platforms like mixed reality (HoloLens), noting its current impact on frontline workers who previously lacked computing devices, and quantum computing. He explains how AI is infused into nearly all Microsoft products, from Office features and search engines to content moderation on platforms like Xbox, where the AI's role is to enhance the core product experience subtly rather than being the primary focus.

The conversation also delves into the profound ethical challenges posed by rapid technological advancement, particularly in areas like content moderation and face recognition software. Scott acknowledges the difficulty in drawing lines for acceptable online behavior, especially across diverse social networks like LinkedIn and Xbox, and stresses the urgent need for policymakers to establish clear regulations. He draws a parallel between the millennia it took society to develop mechanisms for filtering information (e.g., journalism, peer review) in the age of print and the compressed timeline we now face to address similar issues in the ubiquitous digital age, including the rise of deepfakes and fake news.

"The measure of a successful platform is that it produces far more economic value for the people who build on top of the platform than is creative for the the platform owner or builder."

"AI has to be a platform that other people can use to build businesses to fulfill their creative objectives to be entrepreneurs to solve problems that they have in their work and in their lives."

"If you think about data is the raw material that is consumed by the machine of AI in order to do useful things then like we're not doing a really great job right now and having transparent marketplaces for valuing those data contributions."

"The mission now that Satya Ari articulated five plus years ago now when he took over as CEO of the company a mission is to empower every individual and every organization in the world to be more successful."

"Mixed reality like where it's getting traction right now where hololens is selling a lot of a lot of units is for these sorts of applications for these workers and it's become like I mean like the people love it they're like oh my god like this is like for them like the same sort of productivity boost that you know like an office worker had when they got their first personal computer."

"When you think about like how the AI is gonna manifest in like an experience for something that's gonna make it better like I think you don't want the a eyiness to be the first-order thing it's like whatever the product is and like the thing that is trying to help you do like the AI just sort of makes it better."

"I think in a certain way like even if you have what I would call vertical social networks it gets to be a little bit easier so like if you have a clear notion of like what your social network should be used for or like what you are designing a community around then you don't have as many dimensions to your sort of content safety problem as you know as you do in a general purpose."

"We basically have three millennia worth of work to do about how to deal with all of this and like probably what yeah amounts to the next decade worth of time."

"We believe that there are certain uses to which face recognition should not be put and we believe again that there's a need for regulation there."