Surely this will work this time.
Unwavering—for now—in Microsoft’s headlong rush into AI and generative technology, CEO Satya Nadella has turned to the time-honored tradition of blogging to defend AI’s aggressive, profit-driven rollout. In the process, he radiates strong “too big to fail” energy, arguing that it’s time to move beyond the so-called slop controversy, for reasons.
In a December 29, 2025 entry on his sn scratchpad blog, Nadella declares that 2026 “will be a pivotal year for AI. Yes, another one. But this moment feels different in a few notable ways.” I agree—this time, there’s a blog post.
Among several lofty reflections seemingly aimed at calming investors unsettled by the ominous creaks of the AI hype train, Nadella claims that we are “beginning to distinguish between ‘spectacle’ and ‘substance,’” suggesting the industry has moved past AI’s initial discovery phase.
He goes on to say, “We now have a clearer sense of where the tech is headed, but also the harder and more important question of how to shape its impact on the world.” Notably absent, however, is any real discussion of what those impacts actually are, or how to shape them—be they environmental, labor-related, or economic consequences that unchecked AI investment has already produced. Issues like ownership, misinformation, and political misuse are waved aside in favor of lofty abstractions about productivity and creativity.
Rather than addressing these concerns directly, Nadella leans on the familiar metaphor of “bicycles for the mind,” positioning AI not as a replacement for thinking—despite how it has often been marketed—but as “scaffolding for human potential.” He imagines people equipped with “new cognitive amplifier tools,” a vision that calls to mind sci-fi cautionary tales more than grounded reality.
With the palpable fatigue of someone tired of watching AI repeatedly lose arguments about quality, Nadella insists that “we need to get beyond the arguments of slop versus sophistication” and establish a new equilibrium in how humans relate to one another while augmented by AI. On this point, I sympathize—I, too, would like to stop losing arguments.
This rhetoric closely mirrors comments from Microsoft AI CEO Mustafa Suleyman, who previously expressed disbelief that anyone could be unimpressed by modern AI systems, continuing the familiar conflation of pattern recognition with genuine conversation and derivative output with innovation. It’s often that incredulity—that implied “my way or the highway” stance—that undermines these defenses most.
Looking ahead, Nadella proclaims that in 2026 “we will evolve from models to systems” in pursuit of real-world impact, implicitly acknowledging that this has not yet happened. He adds that Microsoft has learned how to ride the exponential growth of AI capabilities while accounting for their “jagged edges,” though he stops short of explaining what those edges are or how dangerous they might be.
Eventually, Nadella arrives at a more meaningful point: “We need to make deliberate choices on how we diffuse this technology in the world as a solution to the challenges of people and planet.” Deliberate, however, is not a word that describes AI’s rollout so far—not at Microsoft, and not across the industry. “Helter-skelter” feels closer. Still, Nadella argues that for AI to gain “societal permission,” it must demonstrate real-world evaluative impact, returning us once again to the central tension between slop and substance. Credit where it’s due: AI systems used to detect cancers earlier are a genuinely promising example.
“It will be a messy process of discovery,” Nadella adds, invoking the history of technology as a shield—suggesting that severe growing pains are inevitable and acceptable. The implication is clear: the ends will eventually justify the means, just not yet.
He closes by asserting that computing has always been about empowering people and organizations to achieve more, and that AI must follow the same path. If it does, he believes, it could become one of the most profound waves in computing history.
AI certainly could become something profound—and it has already had tangible effects on games within Microsoft’s ecosystem—but the gap between what’s promised and what’s delivered remains vast. It may be that the “discovery” phase Nadella is so eager to leave behind has been far too brief. Microsoft appears to have built the AI equivalent of a Model T, yet speaks as though it’s already rolled out a McLaren, casually dismissing concerns about the many steps that may have been skipped along the way.
