Changemakers: Satya Nadella

Ask Satya Nadella, CEO of Microsoft, what the most pressing problems are that he is working to solve right now and he will give you two answers.

“First, I believe that, at its most powerful, technology can be a force for good in the world,” he says.

“In the future, technologies like AI, mixed reality and quantum computing will advance in powerful, transformative ways, impacting every person, every business and every society. They hold enormous potential to help us solve some of the world’s most pressing problems, such as tackling climate change, eradicating hunger and curing disease.”

Nadella is optimistic that exploring beyond our present reality will yield concrete solutions: “With quantum computing, we are innovating beyond today’s world and today’s computers to parallel universes. There are some problems and questions so difficult, so vast, that even if all the computers in the world worked on the problem in tandem, they’d still take longer than the lifetime of the universe to solve.”

Microsoft is already applying quantum-inspired algorithms to address real customer problems, such as detecting cancer faster and more accurately. Its Seeing AI app narrates the world for the visually impaired and its mixed-reality-driven Firstline Workers app enables improved customer service. “We are empowering the two billion ‘Firstline Workers’ of the world who don’t sit at a desk but work with their hands to collaborate with colleagues and experts in real-time, hands-free,” Nadella says.

The many initiatives underway at Microsoft in partnership with a broad range of organisations attest to the transformative power of technology in different sectors.