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Mixed Reality, AI, Quantum Computing To Shape Future, Says Satya Nadella

‘Teleportation’ is no more just Star Trek, Nadella said.

Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella at an event in New Delhi on Tuesday. (Source: PTI)
Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella at an event in New Delhi on Tuesday. (Source: PTI)

Satya Nadella, the India-born chief executive officer of global tech giant Microsoft, today said mixed reality, artificial intelligence and quantum computing are the three path-breaking technologies that will “shape” the world in the coming years.

Computing history has so far been about enhancing the man-machine interface, Nadella said, adding that the ultimate computing experience will be “mixed reality” that blends the real and the virtual world.

In a free-wheeling conversation with former cricketer Anil Kumble, Nadella spoke about matters close to his heart – his family, cricket and the potential that new-age technologies hold for organisations and the society at large.

Nadella is in Delhi, as part of a two-day visit to India to promote his book Hit Refresh. The 50-year-old CEO was in Hyderabad visiting the company’s campus.

“The currency of our times will be the ability to collect data but, more importantly, to reason over it to create intelligence,” he said referring to AI as one of the three technologies that will “shape the years and decades to come”.

Nadella also cited examples of how the company’s HoloLens is being used across sectors like education. HoloLens is a holographic computer designed by the Redmond-based company that allows users to interact with digital content to get an immersive experience.

Recounting his own experience, Kumble said he had tried the HoloLens and “walked on Mars and it felt great”.

Attendees use Microsoft Corp. HoloLens virtual reality (VR) headsets during a product demonstration by Finger Food Studios at the Microsoft Developers Build Conference in Seattle, Washington, U.S. (Photographer: David Ryder/Bloomberg)
Attendees use Microsoft Corp. HoloLens virtual reality (VR) headsets during a product demonstration by Finger Food Studios at the Microsoft Developers Build Conference in Seattle, Washington, U.S. (Photographer: David Ryder/Bloomberg)
‘Teleportation’ is no more just Star Trek, Nadella said to a packed hall. “If you take Microsoft 43 years into our existence and I look at it every five years, we have had some new existential threat,” he said.

He added that while people wrote that some company would “kill” Microsoft, it hasn't happened because the U.S. based company “must be doing something right to stay relevant, to continue to question the status quo”.

“But it’s hard, not easy,” Nadella admitted.

Another defining technology, albeit with a longer-term horizon, is quantum computing that will allow people to deal with tougher challenges of computation, Nadella said.

Attendees view a robot controlled by a computer at the Microsoft Developers Build Conference in San Francisco, California, U.S. (Photographer: David Paul Morris/Bloomberg)
Attendees view a robot controlled by a computer at the Microsoft Developers Build Conference in San Francisco, California, U.S. (Photographer: David Paul Morris/Bloomberg)

Earlier in the day, Microsoft also showcased Ruuh, a chatbot that uses AI to engage with users. It has already been deployed on Skype and Facebook.

Launched about nine months ago, Ruuh has already had over 17 million conversations. A Microsoft executive said, “Whether you are just nervous about an exam or excited about a new job, Ruuh, just like a friend, is always there to chat with you”.

Ruuh was inspired by a similar chatbot by the company in China.

“We decided to bring this to India. It turns out that something that is good in one country and bringing it into another country which is conversational is very different and challenging...So we said let’s build an Indian social bot and we named it Ruuh,” Nadella said.