Satya Nadella on Copilot, the AI backlash, and Microsoft’s future

@satyanadella thinks AI agents will create a market “orders of magnitude” bigger than the cloud.

I recently sat down with him in Seattle for the unveiling of the new Copilot.

We discuss Autopilot, Microsoft's new OpenClaw-based agent that can work on your behalf, and why he thinks newer AI models are finally capable of delivering on more of Copilot’s promise.

Nadella also has a blunt assessment of the AI industry: “We are way too self-obsessed.” I ask him why the industry has struggled to explain its benefits and what it will take to earn people’s trust. We get into his concerns about agents acting deceptively, when a safety problem should stop a release, and why he doesn’t want AI oversight to become a “cartel-like arrangement.”

We also discuss Microsoft’s relationship with OpenAI, the models Microsoft is building itself, and why Nadella wants investors to think about its apps, agents, and infrastructure as one connected business. He explains how he uses AI to track Microsoft’s capital spending, shares his vision for “unmetered intelligence” on Windows, and gives an update on Xbox’s path back to growth.

Timestamps:
00:00 The race for AI agents
07:53 Copilot’s next chapter
11:50 Autopilot and the digital teammate
16:50 How Microsoft prices AI
19:48 Why Microsoft is betting on multiple models
23:18 Measuring AGI through economic growth
28:39 The economics of Microsoft’s AI build-out
32:13 OpenAI and Microsoft’s own models
35:27 AI safety, control, and regulation
43:53 Why the AI industry is losing public trust
46:59 The future of Xbox and Windows
50:34 Microsoft’s biggest risk and opportunity

Thanks to the show's premier sponsors: @mercury, @meetgranola, and @Atlassian.