Satya Nadella’s Microsoft is at the forefront of AI technology thanks to its partnership with OpenAI. While there have been a lot of doom and gloom stories about AI since the ChatGPT in 2022, the technology seems to be now heading towards a maturing stage where we also see more and more productive use cases. In once such instance, Nadella highlighted the use of AI for increasing the yield of a small farm land in Maharashtra’s Baramati.
Sharing a video on X where he talked about the positive impact of AI, Nadella said, “The one example that I wanted to highlight was one of the small farmers who was part of the Baramati Co-op, where you can take this powerful technology but make it have an impact, where a small landowner is able to improve the yield of their land. And the numbers they shared in terms of reduction in chemicals, improvement in water usage and ultimately, yield was phenomenal.
“One of the things it does is sensor fusion. We’ve been talking about it for decades. This is using geospatial data, spatial temporal data from drones, from satellites, from soil, all getting connected in real time and then to apply AI to it, and then translate it back into knowledge for a farmer who is just asking questions in their vernacular language. That’s the stitching together is pretty phenomenal to see.”
Reacting to the video, xAI founder Elon Musk wrote, “AI will improve everything”
Rocky relationship between Satya Nadella and Elon Musk:
Notably, Musk has been warming up to Nadella in the recent weeks after months of criticizing his company for essentially controlling OpenAI with its investment – a claim that the Microsoft CEO vehemently denied.
However, things came to a boil last year when Musk – who was a co-founder of OpenAI – also named Microsoft in the suit against ChatGPT maker, claiming that the two companies are working to monopolize the generative AI market.
“Microsoft’s anticompetitive practices have escalated,” Musk’s attorney Marc Toberoff had said in a statement then.
Recently when Musk questioned OpenAI’s ability to pay for its commitment in the $500 billion Stargate project stating that the AI startup doesn’t actually have the money it promised. Nadella reacted to Musk’s statement in an interview, saying, “Look, all I know is, I’m good for my $80 billion (the amount which Microsoft has committed to AI development this year).”
Musk had reacted to the Nadella interview on X, writing, “On the other hand, Satya definitely does have the money.”
