tech
January 8, 2026
Microsoft's Nadella wants us to stop thinking of AI as 'slop'
Nadella wants us to think of AI as a human helper instead of a slop-generating job killer. New data for 2026 indicates he could be right.
TL;DR
- Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella advocates for viewing AI as a tool to enhance human potential, not replace humans.
- Nadella compares AI to "bicycles for the mind," suggesting it acts as scaffolding for human capabilities.
- Concerns exist about AI causing high levels of human unemployment, with some predictions of significant job loss in white-collar sectors.
- Current data from MIT's Project Iceberg suggests AI is capable of performing about 11.7% of human paid labor, focusing on tasks that can be offloaded.
- Despite some job impacts on roles like graphic artists and junior coders, highly skilled professionals can improve their work with AI tools.
- Vanguard's forecast indicates that occupations most exposed to AI automation are outperforming the rest of the labor market in job growth and wage increases.
- Microsoft laid off over 15,000 employees in 2025, citing AI transformation as a business objective, though overall economic shifts also played a role.
- AI was cited as a reason for approximately 55,000 layoffs in the U.S. in 2025 across various tech companies.
- AI-generated content, such as memes and short-form videos, is also identified as an entertaining use of the technology.
Continue reading
the original article